OF 


* 


......  <•  .....  ....-.•»  ..........  *....:.:...^...t 


- 


<frl)c  Canva  7lni)ivu,s  i'ibranj  Tlsso  nation, 

THOMASTQN,  CONN. 

%ff7 

TERMS  :— One  ""ear  */;  Four  Months  Si. 

n  \\itlin   V'll  .  •    II  /-.A  A  v   -A     Fine    oftWOOPIlt*     :i 
«  ill  i"         i       d  it'l  '-n;  hi  -, '  md  thaKJimc. 

^ 

' •  act.from  th<-  (f-'-r  •  '.>  at  : 

"\\'li.ie\i'i-  willfully  a,,  '    .•ali.-inusly  writes  upon,  injure^,    delaces. 
y  liook.  ,  •  .te.  jjicture,  i-ni,'raviuir  or    statue  lieloii;;- 

hiLT  to  any  law.  town,  city  or  other  public  library,  shall  be  puni-li<-d  by 
•Mint  less  tliau  live  dollar-,  nor  more  than    live  hundred    dollars 
for  e\  nse." 


j <..... v <, 


presented  to  the 

LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  •  SAN  DIKGO 

by 
FRIENDS  OF  THE  LIBRARY 


donor 


RULE  AND  MISBULE 


OF     THE 


ENGLISH  IN  AMERICA 


BY     THE     AUTHOR    OF 

SAM   SLICK    THE    CLOCK-MAKER,"    "THE    LETTER   BAG,' 
"ATTACHE,"    "OLD    JUDGE,"    ETC. 


"  Nee  quA  commissas  flectat  habenas 
Nee  scit  qui  sit  iter ;  nee  si  sciat,  imperet  illis." 

OVID. 


NEW    YORK- 
HARPER   &   BROTHERS,   PUBLISHERS, 
FRANKLIN    SQUARE. 


B'n-8 


DEDICATION. 


MY  DEAR  LORD  FALKLAND, 

I  DERIVE  much  more  pleasure  in  having  the  opportunity 
of  dedicating  this  Work  to  you,  than,  I  am  afraid,  you 
will  feel  at  your  seeing  your  name  attached  to  a  book, 
containing  many  things  in  which  I  know  you  do  not  con- 
cur ;  and  some  that  your  friendship  for  me  will  cause  you 
to  wish  were  expunged.  • 

I  do  not,  by  any  means,  desire  to  have  it  supposed,  that 
it  has  obtained  your  sanction,  as  a  Colonial  Governor,  for 
you  have  never  seen  the  manuscript,  nor  have  I  had  the 
advantage  of  your  valuable  advice  and  experience  during 
its  progress. 

My  reason  for  inscribing  it  to  you,  though  two-fold,  is 
altogether  personal.  First — It  will  recall  to  your  mind 
an  old  friend,  who  has  spent  many  happy  hours  in  your 
society,  and  partaken  largely  of  your  kindness  and  hos- 
pitality, in  time  by-gone,  when  we  discoursed  de  omnibus 
rebus  et  quibusdam  aliis.  Those  days  can  never  be  re- 
called, or  renewed ;  but  memory  would  indeed  be  a  source 
of  unmitigated  pain,  if  it  only  reflected  the  dark  shades, 
and  not  the  sunny  spots  of  life.  This  book  will  show 
you,  that  my  political  views  are  unchanged.  I  should  be 
ashamed  of  myself,  if  a  dedication  were  necessary  to  prove 
that  my  affection  is  also  unaltered.  Secondly — I  know 
of  no  one  so  conversant  with  the  subject  as  yourself.  I 
never  had  a  very  exalted  opinion  of  what  is  called  "Re- 
sponsible Government,"  knowing  that  the  term  was  an 


*11  DEDICATION. 

indefinite  one,  and  that  an  interpretation  had  been  put 
upon  it  by  many  people,  that  made  it  almost  amount  to 
sovereignty. 

To  you  was  intrusted  the  delicate  and  difficult  task  of 
introducing  it  into  Nova  Scotia.  Of  the  independence, 
judgment,  moderation,  and  manliness,  with  which  this 
delegated  duty  was  executed,  I  say  nothing,  because  in 
all  ages,  and  in  all  countries,  there  have  been  others,  be- 
side your  Lordship,  who  could  justly  lay  claim  to  these 
qualities.  But  one  thing  is  most  certain,  that  the  late 
Lord  Metcalf  and  yourself  were  the  only  two  men,  either 
in  the  Cabinet  or  the  Colonies,  who  understood  the  prac- 
tical operation  of  the  system ;  for  while  you  conceded  tt 
the  provincial  Assembly,  the  entire  control  of  its  local 
affairs,  you  maintained  your  own  position  as  the  Queen's 
representative,  asserted  your  rights,  as  an  independent 
branch  of  the  Legislature,  and  at  the  same  time  upheld 
the  Royal  Prerogative.  Those  Governors  wherever  situ- 
ated, who  have  put  a  wider  and  more  extended  interpreta- 
tion on  the  term  than  yourself,  have  become  mere  ciphers ; 
while  those,  who  may  wish  to  follow  your  example,  will 
find,  that  unwise  concessions  have  rendered  the  task  both 
hopeless  and  thankless. 

0  "  Sibi  quivis 

Speret  idem,  sudet  multum,  frustraque  laboret." 

1  am,  my  dear  Lord  Falkland, 

Very  sincerely  and  affectionately, 
Yours,  always, 

THE  AUTHOR 

NOVA  SCOTIA,  March  31,  1851. 


THE 


ENGLISH  IN  AMERICA, 


BOOK  I. 


CHAPTEPv   I. 

Introduction — Objects  and  Utility  of  the  Work — No  connected  Political  History 
of  the  Colonies  to  be  found — Popular  Error  as  to  the  Origin  of  the  American 
Republic — One  established  at  Plymouth  in  1620,  and  another  in  Massachu- 
setts in  1629,  which  subsisted  for  more  than  fifty  Years — Democracy  the 
result  both  of  Design  and  Necessity — Notice  of  the  early  Settlers. 

THE  early  settlements  made  by  the  English  in  America  were 
effected  either  by  individual  speculators  or  associated  companies. 
They  were  in  general  situated  at  a  distance  from  each  other, 
having  at  first  little  or  no  connection,  either  political,  social,  or 
commercial  among  themselves,  and  deriving  but  trifling  assist- 
ance, and  less  protection,  from  the  mother  country.  They  grew 
up  into  powerful  colonies,  in  neglect  and  obscurity,  with  a  rapid- 
ity and  vigor  that  astonished  Europe.  They  were  without  pre- 
cedent in  the  previous  annals  of  England,  and  the  political 
agitation  of  the  public  mind  in  the  present  state,  unhappily 
afforded  no  opportunity  for  establishing  their  relation  on  a  proper 
foundation,  or  arranging  a  consistent  and  uniform  plan  for  their 
government.  The  accounts  we  have  of  them,  therefore,  are  de-. 
tached,  and  their  interest  is  destroyed  for  want  of  continuity. 
Every  plantation  has  had  its  annalist,  but  the  narratives  are  too 
local,  too  minute,  and  too  similar  in  their  details  to  be  either 
interesting  or  instructive.  No  attempt  has  been  made  to  sep- 
arate the  political  from  the  provincial,  and  the  general  from  the 


14  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA 

individual  and  petty  personal  history.  This,  doubtless,  is  the 
reason  why  so  little  is  known  of  the  old  colonies  previous  to  the 
independence,  and  so  little  benefit  has  accrued  from  past  experi- 
ence, either  to  Great  Britain  or  her  dependencies. 

A  connected  sketch  of  English  "  rule  and  misrule  in  America," 
it  is  hoped,  may,  to  a  certain  extent,  supply  the  deficiency,  while 
it  will  correct  some  popular  errors  on  the  subject,  and  furnish 
valuable  material  for  reflection,  not  only  to  those  statesmen  to 
whom  our  destinies  are  intrusted,  but  to  those  restless  politicians 
who  imagine  a  republican  form  of  government  suitable  to  the 
inhabitants  of  every  country  in  the  world. 

Warned  by  past  failures,  the  former  may  learn,  ere  it  be  too 
late,  to  abstain  from  making  experiments  which  have  long  since 
been  tried  and  condemned ;  to  supply  deficiencies  which  have 
heretofore  cost  the  nation  so  dearly,  to  correct  abuses  arising  from 
inconsiderate  concessions,  and  to  cherish  and  foster  those  estab- 
lishments which  in  every  stage  of  colonization  have  been  the 
nurseries  of  loyalty  to  the  monarch,  and  attachment  to  the  na- 
tion. It  will  at  least  convince  them  that  to  substitute  democratic 
for  monarchical  institutions  is  not  the  safest  or  best  mode  of  re- 
taining colonies,  or  enlisting  the  sympathy  of  their  inhabitants. 

•  The  latter  class  (revolutionists)  are  numerous  every  where. 
Astonished  and  dazzled  at  the  extraordinary  success  that  has 
attended  the  great  American  experiment,  they  merely  regard  the 
result,  without  stopping  to  investigate  the  cause,  and  hastily 
conclude  that  that  which  has  worked  so  well  in  the  United 
States,  and  produced  so  much  general  prosperity  and  individual 
good,  is  equally  applicable  to,  or  attainable  by  every  other  people. 
This  is  a  great  and  fatal  error.  A  government  must  not  only  be 
suited  to  the  population,  but  to  the  country  for  which  it  is  de- 
signed ;  and  the  moral  and  social  condition  of  the  one,  and  the 
size,  the  climate,  and  political  and  relative  position  of  the  other, 
are  of  the  utmost  importance  to  be  thoroughly  understood,  and 
maturely  considered. 

Thus  a  constitutional  monarchy  has  proved  inadequate  in 
Spain  to  conciliate  the  affections  or  restrain  the  turbulence  of  the 
people.  Responsible  government  in  Canada  has  failed  in  its 
object,  because  it  is  incompatible  with  imperial  control  and 
colonial  dependence,  is  unsuited  to  the  poverty,  ignorance,  and 
inactivity  of  the  French  Habitants,  and  the  predilections  and 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  15 

prejudices  of  the  English  emigrants,  and  because  it  wants  cor- 
relative and  congenial  institutions,  and  is  deficient  in  federal 
strength  and  central  gravitation.  Royalty  could  not  be  accli- 
mated in  the  United  States,  though  the  experiment  were  to  be 
tried  by  a  vote  of  a  large  majority.  It  is  contrary  to  the  genius 
of  the  people,  their  habits,  institutions,  and  feelings.  For  these 
and  other  reasons,  self-government  has  signally  failed  in  all  the 
republics  of  the  southern  hemisphere,  though  the  constitution  and 
example  of  the  United  States  have  been  followed  as  closely  as 
possible.  Democracy  has  at  present  a  feverish  and  delirious  ex- 
istence in  France.  It  was  not  the  deliberate  choice  of  the  na- 
tion, but  the  result  of  an  insurrection.  It  offered  a  temporary 
shelter  amid  the  storms  of  civil  commotion,  and  was  adopted  as 
a  harbor  of  refuge.  How  long  will  its  neutral  character  be 
respected  by  the  irreconcilable  parties  that  distract  that  unhappy 
nation  1 

My  desire  is,  among  other  objects  of  this  work,  to  show  where 
and  by  whom  republicanism  was  introduced  into  this  continent, 
what  its  foundations  are,  how  they  were  laid,  and  what  provision 
has  been  made  for  its  support  and  continuance.  Having  given  a 
narrative  of  its  origin,  growth,  and  maturity,  which  can  alone  be 
compiled  from  provincial  annals,  I  shall  endeavor  to  explain 
briefly  the  complicated  mechanism  and  simple  action  of  the 
American  federal  constitution,  and  the  balances  and  checks  that 
have  been  so  skillfully  contrived  by  the  great  statesmen  who 
constructed  it ;  and  also  to  point  out  the  wonderful  combination 
of  accidental  causes  that  contributed  to  its  success,  and  the 
ability,  unity,  energy,  and  practical  skill  of  the  people,  who  work 
the  machine  and  keep  it  in  order  and  repair.  The  question  has 
often  been  asked  why  may  not  this  form  of  government  be  copied 
and  adopted  in  England  or  France  ?  The  answer  is  to  be  found 
in  every  part  of  this  history.  It  will  be  necessary  most  carefully 
to  ascertain  whether  those  things  which  have  tended  to  its  suc- 
cess in  America  exist,  or  can  by  any  possibility  be  created  in 
Europe.  Its  development  must  be  traced  step  by  step,  day  by 
day,  from  one  event  to  another,  and  one  generation  and  institu- 
tion to  another.  Due  weight  must  be  attached  to  the  consider- 
ation who  and  what  the  people  were  who  founded  it,  and  who 
and  what  they  are  who  now  live  under  it,  as  well  as  the  time 
and  the  palace  selected  for  the  experiment. 


16  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

We  must  then  judge  whether  all  these  circumstances,  or  the 
greater  part  of  them,  were  indispensably  necessary  to  success,  and, 
if  so,  whether  there  is  any  thing  analogous  in  Europe.  I  shall 
furnish  the  facts :  let  others  build  their  own  theories.  I  enter 
into  no  speculations,  and,  above  all,  offer  no  opinions  as  to  the 
durability  of  this  great  republic  of  the  western  world,  or  how  it 
will  work  when  the  population  shall  be  proportionally  as  large 
as  that  of  Europe.  I  simply  portray  it  as  it  is. 

Most  men  believe  that  the  American  Republic  took  its  rise  in 
a  successful  resistance  of  the  provincials  to  an  attempt  on  the 
part  of  Great  Britain,  in  a  parliament  in  which  they  were  not 
represented,  to  tax  them  without  their  consent,  and  that  resist- 
ance led  to  a  revolution,  in  which  they  asserted  their  independ- 
ence, and  finally  obtained  it  in  the  year  1783. 

This  is  a  very  natural  mistake  for  those  persons  to  fall  into 
who  are  not  acquainted  with  their  early  history,  but  a  republic 
de  facto  was  first  formed  at  Plymouth,  in  New  England,  in  1620, 
and  another  far  more  extensive  and  flourishing  one  was  erected 
in  Massachusetts,  in  the  years  1628  and  1629,  both  which  sub- 
sisted in  full  force  for  a  period  of  more  than  fifty  years,  without 
submitting  to  the  power,  or  acknowledging  the  authority  of  the 
Parent  State. 

These  independent  communities  founded  the  institutions,  and 
disseminated  the  democratic  opinions  that  were  subsequently 
adopted  by  the  continental  provinces.  The  former  are,  with 
some  small  modifications,  such  as  are  in  existence  there  at  the 
present  day,  and  the  latter  are  identical  with  the  views  of  their 
descendants.  The  reason  that  so  little  is  known  of  the  occur- 
rences of  this  period  I  have  already  assigned,  but  they  are  essen- 
tial elements  in  forming  any  just  estimate  of  subsequent  events, 
or  an  accurate  opinion  of  transatlantic  affairs.  With  these  com- 
monwealths our  narrative  must  necessarily  commence.  I  shall 
omit  every  thing  that  does  not  either  develop  the  character  or 
principles  of  the  people,  or  elucidate  the  views  they  entertained 
of  their  own  supremacy,  and  their  right  to  the  soil,  and  govern- 
ment of  the  country  of  their  adoption.  I  shall  pass  over  also  the 
earlier  settlement  at  Plymouth  with  only  a  brief  reference,  as 
well  on  account  of  the  greater  growth  and  importance  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  the  influence  it  always  exerted  on  the  neighboring 
plantations,  as  to  preserve  the  narrative  entire. 


.    THEENGLISHINAMERICA.  17 

*- 

At  the  end  of  half  a  century  these  two  republics  were  rendered 
nominally  subordinate  to  the  empire,  but  remained  practically 
independent,  retaining  their  own  self-government,  resisting  the 
encroachments  of  the  prerogative,  zealously  avoiding  all  acknowl- 
edgment of  parental  control,  either  in  external  matters  of  trade, 
or  internal  affairs  of  legislation  or  police,  until  they  felt  strong 
enough,  in  conjunction  with  the  contiguous  colonies,  to  sever  all 
connection  whatever  with  Great  Britain.  It  is  a  curious  and 
instructive  history,  and  well  worthy  of  the  attentive  consideration 
of  those  who  feel  inclined  to  imitate,  and  imagine  they  are  able 
to  follow  the  example.  They  will  be  struck  with  the  important 
fact  that  they  commenced  with  small  and  isolated  communities, 
having  one  common  object  in  view,  and  possessing  the  means, 
the  unity  of  political  and  religious  opinions,  and  the  mutual  confi- 
dence and  sympathy  necessary  to  effect  their  purpose.  There 
was  nothing  to  pull  down  or  remove,  no  privileged  orders  to 
reduce,  no  serfs  to  raise  to  a  level  with  themselves,  no  pre-exist- 
ing form  of  government  to  eradicate,  no  contending  factions  or 
intriguing  leaders  to  subdue,  and  no  populace  to  conciliate  or 
control.  The  scene  was  a  forest,  and  the  actors  intelligent  and 
resolute  men,  drawn  from  the  middle  and  not  the  lower  orders  of 
society,  emigrants  from  a  country^  having  liberal  institutions  and 
a  code  of  laws  well  calculated  to  secure  and  promote  the  liberty 
of  the  subject.  They  were  beyond  the  reach  and  the  observation 
of  the  Parent  State,  and  were  left  unaided  and  unmolested  to 
put  their  theories  into  practice.  The  structure  of  the  govern- 
ment thus  adopted  was  simple,  and  suited  to  the  exigencies  and 
equality  of  their  situation. 

The  civil  divisions  of  the  country,  which  became  necessary 
from  time  to  time,  in  consequence  of  their  extended  growth,  and 
the  internal  management  of  their  local  affairs,  corresponded  with 
that  of  the  first  settlements,  and  were  adopted  not  merely  be- 
cause they  were  democratic,  but  because  they  were  best  suited  to 
their  conditions,  and  in 'unison  with  their  preconcerted  object. 
One  little  village  and  neighborhood  gave  rise  to  another  little 
village  and  neighborhood,  and  one  distant  settlement  to  another, 
until  the  country  became  populous,  and  the  people  too  extended 
and  numerous  to  meet  together  in  council. 

Delegated  power  then  became  indispensable,  and  a  legislature 
arose,  in  imitation  of  and  analogous  to  that  of  England.  Then 


18  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

* 

came  the  necessity  of  establishing  institutions,  suitable  not  merely 
for  a  community  but  for  a  number  of  communities,  not  for  the 
present  generation,  but  for  posterity.  For  this  task  they  were 
admirably  well  qualified.  They  were  perfectly  acquainted  with 
those  of  the  Parent  State,  under  which  they  had  been  early 
trained,  and  had  tested  the  modified  forms  they  had  temporarily 
adopted  themselves  on  landing  in  the  country.  With  this  double 
experience,  they  were  relieved  from  the  difficulty  of  invention 
and  much  of  the  danger  of  innovation.  They  came  to  the  con- 
sideration of  these  subjects  with  minds  free  from  all  excitement. 
They  had  obtained  no  victory,  and  were  not  flushed  with  tri- 
umph. They  had  no  opposition,  and  were  not  obstinate.  The 
civil  power  was  in  their  own  hands,  they  could  delegate  as 
little  or  as  much  as  they  thought  expedient  to  an  executive. 
Authority  was  not  demanded,  it  was  conceded.  Every  indi- 
vidual had  a  strong  personal  interest.  It  depended  solely  upon 
himself  and  his  own  conduct  whether  he  should  administer  the 
law  or  should  silently  submit  to  its  operation. 

Eveiy  measure  to  be  adopted  was  an  act  of  the  whole  body 
and  not  a  party.  Is  it  then  to  be  wondered  at,  that  with  this 
experience  they  reasoned  well,  and  decided  wisely  ? 

When  we  consider  that  all  this  occurred  more  than  two 
hundred  and  thirty  years  ago,  before  civilization  had  made  such 
mighty  strides  as  it  has  in  modern  times,  and  that  the  people 
who  then  deliberated  on  the  difficult  problems  of  government  and 
jurisprudence,  though  men  of  strong  intellect  and  good  parts, 
nevertheless  labored  under  the  great  disadvantage  of  having  their 
tempers  soured,  and  their  understanding  clouded  by  fanaticism 
and  bigotry,  we  are  struck  with  astonishment  at  the  knowledge 
and  consummate  skill  they  displayed  in  laying  the  foundations  of 
their  political  fabric ;  and  if  their  system  of  jurisprudence  was 
imperfect,  it  is  still  infinitely  better  than  could  have  been  ex- 
pected from  persons  of  their  peculiar  religious  belief 

It  is  in  the  annals  of  these  two  first  Republics  of  New  En- 
gland that  we  must  trace  the  origin  and  history  of  almost  every 
institution  now  existing  in  the  United  States,  the  rise  and  pro- 
gress of  American  opinions  of  federal  union  with  the  neighboring 
sovereignties,  of  a  separate  jurisdiction  and  of  a  central  congress. 
At  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  much  doubtless  was  added  by 
the  great  statesmen  of  the  day,  beyond  what  existed  in  the  olden 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  19 

time,  but  those  additions  were  less  conspicuous  for  their  novelty 
and  originality  (for  there  was  little  new  in  them)  than  the  won- 
derful skill  exhibited  in  their  adaptation  to  the  then  existing 
state  of  things,  so  as  to  preserve  harmony  and  unity  of  action. 

To  ascribe  to  Washington,  Franklin,  Jefferson,  or  Adams,  and 
their  contemporaries,  the  whole  merit  of  the  invention  and  crea- 
tion of  that  wonderful  republic,  would  be  to  rob  the  early  planters 
of  Massachusetts  of  their  well-earned  laurels.  There  are  enough 
for  both,  let  us  appropriate  them  to  their  respective  owners ;  and 
in  so  doing  let  us  not  forget  to  mention  those  circumstances,  and 
they  were  many  and  most  important,  which  were  purely  acci- 
dental, the  mere  offspring  of  chance,  a  work  of  the  hand  of 
Providence. 


CHAPTER  II. 

The  Reformation — Different  Conduct  of  the  Protestants  and  Church  of  England 
— Religious  Differences  lead  to  the  Settlement  of  North  America — Division 
of  the  Country  into  South  and  North  Virginia — The  latter  explored  by  Cap- 
tain Smith,  and  called  New  England — Delusive  Description  of  it — Distinction 
between  the  Nonconformists  of  Leyden  who  settled  New  Plymouth,  and 
those  who  founded  Massachusetts — Account  of  Brown,  his  Principles,  and 
Recantations — The  Brownists  petition  for  Toleration  and  are  refused — Ob- 
tain a  Charter  in  South  Virginia — Settle  at  New  Plymouth  by  Mistake — Enter 
into  a  Compact  for  Self-Government — First  American  Democracy — State  of 
it  at  the  End  of  six  Years. 

AT  the  Reformation,  the  sudden  disruption  of  Papal  authority 
naturally  occasioned  those  who  had  hitherto  heen  accustomed  to 
travel  in  one  common  road  to  wander,  when  released,  in  various 
directions.  What  part  of  Romanism  was  true,  and  what  false, 
what  to  be  retained  or  rejected,  added  or  substituted,  opened  a 
wide  field  for  speculation  and  controversy.  It  is  not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  if  men  who  had  long  ceased  to  think  on  such  matters 
ibr  themselves,  found  prejudice  easier  than  reason,  and  thought 
their  only  safety  consisted  in  getting  as  far  away  from  the  creeds, 
forms,  and  practices  of  Popery  as  possible,  and  mistook  in  their 
flight  obstinacy  for  conscience,  and  submission  to  authority  for  a 
compromise  of  principle . 

In  consequence  of  the  celebrated  Germanic  protest,  all  those 
both  on  the  Continent  and  in  Britain,  who  dissented  from  Popery 
(although  distinguished  from  each  other  by  some  peculiar  name, 
derived  from  their  teachers  or  their  creeds),  assumed  the  general 
appellation  of  Protestants.  While  they  made  war  on  the  cere- 
monies of  Rome,  they  retained  her  bigotry,  and  though  they 
denied  the  power  of 'dispensation  to  the  Pope,  they  found  no  dif- 
ficulty in  absolving  themselves  from  the  obligation  of  their  oaths 
of  allegiance  to  their  sovereign.  They  clamored,  and  suffered  or 
fought  for  the  exercise  of  private  judgment  and  liberty  of  con- 
science. This  they  all  united  in  demanding  to  its  fullest  extent ; 
and  the  singular  interpretation  they  gave  these  terms  is  a  re- 
markable instance  of  unanimity  among  a  people  who  differed  on 
almost  every  other  subject.  Each  sect  claimed  exemption  from 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  21 

persecution  for  itself,  because  it  sincerely  believed  what  it  professed  • 
but  the  right  to  persecute  others  it  by  no  means  renounced,  be- 
cause it  kneiv  its  opponents  to  be  wrong. 

The  Church  of  England,  on  the  contrary,  which  had  enjoyed 
its  apostolic  succession,  its  orders  of  priesthood,  and  its  spiritual 
independence  in  all  its  primitive  purity  for  six  hundred  years  be- 
fore the  aggression  of  the  Roman  Pontiff,  very  property  retained 
its  own  original  name,  to  which  no  other  body  of  Christians  had 
any  title  whatever.*  She  threw  off  the  domination  she  had 
been  too  feeble  to  resist,  and  the  superstitions  and  human  inven- 
tions that  had  been  forced  upon  her,  compiled  her  Liturgy,  and 
settled  her  doctrine  and  ceremonies  as  nearly  as  possible  in  ac- 
cordance with  those  she  had  held  in  those  centuries  that  preceded 
the  usurpation  of  Popery.  In  some  or  in  all  of  these,  furious 
zealots  affected  to  think  they  discerned  too  great  a  resemblance 
still  subsisting  between  the  two  churches,  and  stigmatized 
Prayer-book  as  antichristian,  the  surplice  as  a  rag  of  Babj 
and  the  Holy  Communion  as  the  Mass  in  English.  These  Prot- 
estants of  various  shades  of  opinion  were  known  in  Britain  under 
the  general  name  of  Puritans,  and  as  schism  in  spiritual  things 
naturally  leads  to  temporal  disobedience,  they  were  very  soon  re- 
garded (with  what  truth  their  subsequent  history  discloses  but 
too  painfully)  as  disaffected  subjects,  and  treated  alternately  with 
suspicion  or  severity.  To  this  state  of  things  may  be  attributed 
in  a  great  degree  the  settlement  of  New  England. 

Individual  enterprise  had  hitherto  been  found  unequal  to  the 
task.  Mines  of  gold  and  silver  constituted  the  main  inducement, 
in  the  first  instance,  to  explore  the  country.  When  the  search 
for  the  precious  metals  was  relaxed  or  abandoned,  attention  was 
directed  to  the  fur-trade  and  the  fisheries,  from  which  great 
wealth  was  derived.  But  the  settlement  of  the  country  was  a 
slow  and  expensive  operation,  not  likely  to  yield  an  immediate 
return,  and  liable  to  be  frustrated  by  a  variety  of  circumstances. 

One  hundred  and  twenty  years  had  elapsed  since  the  discov- 
eries of  Cabot,  and  every  attempt  at  colonization  had  failed.  Com- 
bination, therefore,  was  resorted  to,  that  success  might  be  insured 

*  A.D.  1689.  The  Upper  House  of  Convocation  sent  down  a  bill  to  the 
Lower  House,  where  the  English  Church  was  denominated  a  "Protestaut 
Church."  The  Lower  House  expunged  the  word  "Protestant,"  declaring  they 
were  not  in  unison  with  Protestants. 


22  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

by  a  union  of  means  and  an  increase  of  the  number  of  adventur- 
ers. James  the  First,  who  was  anxious  to  enlarge  the  limits  of 
his  dominions,  divided  all  that  portion  of  the  Continent  that 
stretches  from  the  34th  to  the  45th  degree  of  latitude  into  two 
immense  provinces,  of  nearly  equal  size,  and  denominated  them 
Southern  and  Northern  Virginia.  The  first  he  granted  to  an 
association  called  the  London  Company,  and  the  second  to  a 
number  of  persons  of  influence  and  property  known  as  the  Ply- 
mouth Company.  The  supreme  government  of  the  colonies  that 
were  to  be  settled  in  this  spacious  domain  was  ordered  to  be 
vested  in  a  council  resident  in  England,  and  the  subordinate  juris- 
diction was  committed  to  local  boards.  The  northern  portion, 
which  was  surveyed  in  1614,  by  Captain  Smith,  was  named  by 
him  New  England,  and  it  is  to  a  part  of  this  country  only  that  1 
shall  have  occasion  to  refer,  at  any  length.  To  allure  settlers, 
the  climate  and  soil  were  extolled  as  consisting  of  a  sort  of  terres- 
trfki  paradise,  not  merely  capable  of  producing  all  the  necessaries 
and  conveniences  of  life,  but  as  already  richly  furnished  by  the 
beautiful  hand  of  nature  !  The  air  was  said  to  be  pure  and 
salubrious,  the  country  pleasant  and  delightful,  full  of  goodly 
forests,  fair  valleys,  and  fertile  plains,  abounding  in  vines,  chest- 
nuts, walnuts,  and  many  other  kinds  of  fruit.*  The  rivers  stored 
with  fish  and  environed  with  extensive  meadows  full  of  timber 
trees.  In  the  rear  of  this  wonderful  coast,  and  at  about  the  dis- 
tance of  one  hundred  miles,  it  was  said  "there  was  a  vast  lake 
containing  four  islands,  having  great  store  of  stags,  fallow  deer, 
elks,  roebucks,  beavers  and  other  game,  and  offering  the  most 
delightful  situation  in  the  world  for  a  residence."  Whatever 
this  interminable  forest  might  contain,  it  was  certain  that  the 
sea  that  washed  its  shores  was  filled  with  fish,  and  numerous  and 
valuable  cargoes  were  constantly  arriving  to  silence  the  doubts 
and  awaken  the  enterprise  of  the  mercantile  community.  The 
distracted  and  unsettled  state  of  men's  minds  on  the  subject  of 
religion  led  many  enthusiasts  to  think  of  the  country  as  an 
asylum,  who  gladly  entered  into  an  enterprise  that  offered  at 
once  the  prospect  of  gain  and  a^i  exemption  from  ecclesiastical 
control.  Accordingly,  two  considerable  parties  of  fanatical  ad- 
venturers migrated  thither — the  Separatists  of  Leyden  called 
Brownists,  and  English  Nonconformists.  The  former  settled  at 
Plymouth,  and  the  latter  at  Massachusetts  Bay. 

*  See  Belknap's  "Life  of  Ferdinando  Georges. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  23 

The  means,  character,  and  station  of  these  two  were  widely 
different,  and  though  they  are  oftem  considered  as  one  people,  and 
erroneously  spoken  of  under  the  general  name  of  Pilgrims,  it  is 
necessary  to  bear  this  distinction  in  mind.  The  first  are  repre- 
sented as  men  of  great  zeal  hut  of  little  knowledge.  Many  of 
the  others  were  gentlemen  and  scholars,  whose  humility  was  not 
the  result  of  their  poverty  but  their  pride.  The  one  had  already 
separated  from  their  Church  and  quitted  their  native  country  be- 
fore they  came  to  America.  The  others  having  more  to  lose,  for 
they  were  men  of  no  inconsiderable  fortune,  were  less  frank  in 
avowing  their  opinions  and  less  precipitate  in  their  conduct,  and 
outwardly  conformed  to  the  ceremonies  of  the  Established  Church 
until  their  embarkation.  They  had  not  assumed  the  name  of 
Puritans  themselves,  nor  was  it  applied  to  them  by  others.  Their 
dissent,  as  well  as  their  real  object  in  emigrating,*  was  so  well 
concealed  from  their  co-partners  in  trade  in  England,  and  from 
the  King's  government,  that  they  were  not  only  not  suspected  of 
schism,  but  actually  intrusted  with  the  duty  and  enjoined  as  a 
condition  of  their  charter  to  spread  the  Gospel. 

The  Separatists  of  Leyden,  on  the  contrary,  were  well-known. 
Dissenters,  who  had  fled  to  Holland  to  avoid  the  penalties  of  the 
law.  They  were  followers  of  the  celebrated  Brown,  from  whom 
they  derived  their  name.  This  enthusiast  was  a  man  of  quality, 
connected  with  several  noble  families  ;  and  the  defection  of  such 
a  person  is  always  hailed  with  delight  by  the  vulgar,  as  an  evi- 
dence of  great  manliness  on  the  one  hand,  and  as  a  useful  instru- 
ment of  mischief  on  the  other.  Though  many  others  were 
equally  audacious,  and  far  more  eloquent  and  learned,  their  names 
have  not  survived  their  own  generation.  To  his  station  alone  is  he 
indebted  for  the  remembrance  of  his  guilty  secession.  He  aspired 
and  attained  to  the  honor  of  founding  a  sect.  It  was  a  period 
when  every  absurdity  found  an  admirer,  but  he  was  determined 
to  go  as  far  as  possible,  and  reached  a  point  beyond  which  was 
the  precipice  that  overhangs  infidelity.  He  condemned  the  gov 
ernment  of  bishops,  the  ordination  of  ministers,  and  the  offices, 
rites,  and  ceremonies  of  the  public  Liturgy.  He  maintained  that 
the  Church  of  England  was  neither  lawful  nor  true,  and  that  all 

*  So  habitual  was  their  reserve  to  the  English  partners,  and  so  effectually  did 
they  conceal  or  disguise  their  opinions,  that  at  the  very  time  they  were  plotting 
the  downfall  and  death  of  Laud,  that  prelate  assured  the  King  that  several 
bishops,  of  very  extensive  dioceses,  had  reported  to  him  there  was  not  a  single 
Dissenter  to  be  found  within  their  jurisdiction. 


24  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

Christians  were  bound  to  come  out  of  Babylon  and  join  him  and 
his  disciples,  among  whom  ttere  was  nothing  to  be  found  that 
savored  not  directly  of  the  Spirit  of  God.*  .Having  seduced 
those  infatuated  people  from  their  Church,  and  caused  them  to 
fly  from  their  native  land,  his  success  satisfied  his  ambition,  and 
his  enthusiasm  expired  for  want  of  novelty.  What  was  the 
astonishment  of  his  deluded  followers,  when  they  heard  that  ha 
had  recanted  his  errors,  submitted  to  his  bishops,  and  rejoined 
the  establishment.  They  then  began  to  observe,  what  they  had 
either  not  noticed  before  or  had  disregarded  as  unimportant,  that 
he  had  a  wife  with  whom  he  never  lived,  a  church  in  which  he 
never  preached,  though  paid  for  the  duties,  and  a  congregation 
whom  he  neglected  though  he  did  not  omit  to  collect  and  receive 
his  tithes.  Revenge  quickens  the  senses,  and  magnifies  every 
object  it  beholds.  They  were  astonished  at  such  enormities,  and 
regarded  their  idol  rather  as  a  demou  than"  a  saint.  They  imme- 
diately disowned  his  name,  spurned  the  appellation  of  Brownists, 
and  called  themselves  Congregationalists.  Their  situation  at 
Leyden  had  become  uncomfortable  for  them,  and  they  were  ap- 
prehensive they  should  be  absorbed  in  a  foreign  population. 
Their  means  also  were  greatly  reduced,  and  they  saw  no  mode 
by  which  they  could  be  recruited.  They  sensibly  felt  the  effects 
on  their  zeal  of  the  neglect  or  indifference  of  the  Dutch. 

So  long  as  they  were  opposed  or  punished  in  England,  it  was 
easy  for  their  leaders  to  feed  the  flame  of  their  sectarian  ardor  by 
appealing  to  their  passions  as  men,  and  they  derived  a  secret 
satisfaction  in  plotting  the  ruin  of  their  rulers,  both  in  State  and 
Church,  and  in  retaliating  upon  them  the  injuries,  whether  real 
or  imaginary,  they  suffered  at  their  hands.  The  moment  the 
union  for  common  defense  was  dissolved  by  repose,  one  great  in- 
centive to  fanaticism  was  destroyed.  Their  vanity  was  no  longer 
flattered  by  the  sympathy  of  a  crowd  who  had  regarded  them  as 
martyrs  ;  and  their  learning  was  not  such  as  to  attract  the  ap- 
plause or  even  the  notice  of  continental  scholars.  In  this  state 
of  depression  they  turned  their  eyes  toward  America,  and  sending 
agents  to  England,  they  applied  to  the  Virginia  Company  for  a 
patent  of  part  of  their  territory,  saying  "  they  were  well  weaned 
from  the  delicate  milk  of  their  mother  country,  and  inured  to  the 
difficulties  of  a  strange  land."  They  assured  them  they  were 
knit  together  by  a  strict  and  sacred  band,  by  virtue  of  which 

*  Fuller 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  25 

they  held  themselves  bound  to  take  care  of  the  good  of  each 
other,  and  of  the  whole  ;  and  that  it  was  not  with  them  as  with, 
other  men  whom  small  things  could  discourage,  or  small  discon- 
tents cause  to  wish  themselves  at  home  again.  Though  their 
agents  found  the  company  very  desirous  of  promoting  the  pro- 
jected settlement  in  their  territory,  and  willing  to  grant  them  a 
patent  with  as  ample  privileges  as  it  was  in  their  power  to  con- 
vey, they  could  not  prevail  upon  the  king  to  give  them  a  public 
toleration  for  their  dissent,  and  they  returned  greatly  disconcerted 
to  their  sorrowing  friends. 

The  following  year  they  determined  to  take  their  chance  for 
toleration,  judging  very  wisely  that  distance  was  a  sufficient 
guarantee  for  their  safety,  and  accepted  the  patent  without  press- 
ing their  petition  to  the  king  for  his  protection.  It  was  there- 
fore agreed  that  a  portion  of  them  should  proceed  to  America, 
and  make  preparations  for  the  reception  of  the  rest.  The  part- 
ing scene  is  described  as  an  affecting  one.  Their  clergyman,  Mr. 
Robinson,  was  a  pious  and  exemplary  man,  and  his  correspond- 
ence with  this  little  body  of  pioneers  shows  how  much  the  causes 
to  which  I  have  alluded  had  softened  the  feelings  and  lowered 
the  extravagant  language  to  which  they  had  been  accustomed. 
These  letters,  which  are  still  extant,  do  equal  honor  to  his  head 
and  heart.  His  last  words  of  advice  to  his  departing  flock  prove 
how  deeply  he  was  mortified  by  the  desertion  of  their  leader,  and 
how  much  opprobrium  and  ridicule  must  have  attached  to 
them,  arising  from  his  return  to  the  Established  Church,  and  his 
conforming  to  its  doctrines  and  discipline.  "  I  must  advise  you," 
he  said,  "to  abandon,  avoid,  and  shake  off  the  name  of  Brown- 
ists :  it  is  a  mere  nickname  and  a  brand  for  making  religion  and 
the  professors  of  it  odious  to  the  Christian  world."  Several  of 
their  number  now  sold  their  estates  and  made  a  common  bank, 
which,  together  with  money  received  from  other  adventurers  who 
entered  into  the  joint  stock  speculation,  enabled  them  to  emigrate 
and  commence  a  plantation  in  due  form.  On  the  10th  day  of 
November,  1620,  the  Leyden  adventurers  anchored  in  America, 
and,  late  in  December,  having  found  a  convenient  harbor  and  a 
suitable  spot  for  settlement,  landed  and  commenced  building  a 
village  which,  in  token  of  their  gratitude  for  the  hospitality  ex- 
tended to  them  by  their  friends  at  the  last  port  of  embarkation, 
they  called  Plymouth. 

B 


26  THE    ENGLISH    l.\    AMERICA. 

Finding  this  place  to  be  beyond  the  limits  of  the  Virginia  com- 
pany, they  perceived  at  once  that  their  patent  was  useless  ;  symp- 
toms of  faction,  at  the  same  time  appearing  among  the  servants  on 
board,  who  imagined  that  when  on  shore  they  should  be  under  no 
government,  it  was  j  udged  expedient  that  before  landing  they  should 
form  themselves  into  a  body  politic,  to  be  governed  by  the  major- 
ity. After  solemn  prayer  and  thanksgiving,  a  written  instrument 
was  drawn  up  for  that  purpose,  and  subscribed  on  board  the  ship 
on  the  llth  of  November,  1620.  This  contract  was  signed  by 
forty-one  of  the  emigrants  who,  with  their  families,  amounted  to 
one  hundred  and  one  persons.  This  singular  document  is  as  fol- 
lows : — "  In  the  name  of  God.  Amen.  We,  whose  names  are 
undersigned,  the  loyal  subjects  of  our  Sovereign  Lord  King  James, 
&c.,  &c.,  having  undertaken,  for  the  glory  of  God  and  advance- 
ment of  the  Christian  faith  and  honor  of  our  King  and  country,  a 
voyage  to  plant  the  first  colony  in  the  northern  part  of  Virginia, 
do,  by  these  presents,  solemnly  and  mutually  in  the  presence  of 
God  and  one  another,  covenant  and  combine  ourselves  together 
into  a  civil  body  politic  for  our  better  ordering  and  preservation, 
and  furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid,  and  by  virtue  hereof  do 
enact,  constitute,  and  frame  such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances, 
acts,  constitutions,  and  offices,  from  time  to  time,  as  shall  be 
thought  most  meet  and  convenient  for  the  general  good  of  the 
colony,  unto  which  we  promise  all  due  submission  and  obedience." 
They  then  proceeded  to  elect  a  Governor  and  choose  subordinate 
officers.  Thus  did  these  people  find  means  to  erect  themselves 
into  a  republic,  even  though  they  had  commenced  the  enterprise 
under  the  sanction  of  a  charter. 

In  the  true  spirit  of  separatists  they  founded  their  Commonwealth 
in  disobedience  or  defiance  of  royal  authority,  for  they  were  ex- 
pressly denied  a  guarantee  for  the  toleration  of  Sectarianism,  and 
they  commenced  their  plantation  at  a  place  which  they  knew  be- 
longed either  to  the  king  or  another  company.  It  was  a  self- 
created  independent  democratic  government.  The  office  of  gov- 
ernor was  annual  and  elective,  but  their  pastor  at  Levden  very 
prudently  advised  them,  as  their  number  was  so  small,  to  intrust 
the  whole  power  at  first  to  that  functionary,  until  they  were 
populous  enough  to  add  a  council  arid  constitute  a  legislature, 
quaintly  observing :  "  that  one  Neherniah  was  better  than  a 
whole  Sanhedrim  of  mercenary  Shemiahs."  Their  patent  gave 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  27 

a  title  to  the  soil,  but  prerogatives  of  government  according  to  the 
ideas  of  the  English  lawyers  could  only  be  exercised  under  a  charter 
from  the  crown.  A  considerable  sum  was  spent  in  the  endeavor 
to  obtain  such  a  charter,  but  without  success.  Relying,  however, 
upon  their  original  compact,  the  colonists  gradually  assumed  all 
the  prerogatives  of  government,  even  the  power,  after  some  hesita- 
tion, of  capital  punishment.  No  less  than  eight  offenses  are  enu- 
merated in  the  first  Plymouth  Code  as  punishable  with  death,  in- 
cluding treason  or  rebellion  against  the  colony,  and  "  solemn  com- 
paction or  conversing  with  the  devil."  Trial  by  jury  was  early 
introduced,  but  the  penalties  to  be  inflicted  on  minor  offenses 
remained  for  the  most  part  discretionary.  For  eighteen  years 
all  laws  were  enacted  in  a  general  assembly  of  all  the  colonists. 
The  governor,  chosen  annually,  was  but  president  of  a  council,  in 
which  he  had  a  double  vote.  It  consisted  first  of  one,  then  of 
five,  and  finally  of  seven  members  called  assistants.  So  little 
were  political  honors  coveted  at  New  Plymouth,  that  it  became 
necessary  to  inflict  a  fine  upon  such  as,  being  chosen,  declined  to 
accept  the  office  of  governor  or  assistant.  None,  however,  were 
obliged  to  serve  for  two  years  in  succession.* 

They  were  often  not  only  destitute  of  money,  but  equally  de- 
void of  credit  :  for  in  1686  having  occasion  to  borrow  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds,  the  risk  was  considered  so  great  that  they  could 
only  procure  it  at  the  enormous  interest  of  fifty  per  cent.  Nor 
did  the  town  flourish  as  was  expected  from  one  erected  in  a 
country  like  Canaan.  At  the  end  of  four  years,  one  hundred  and 
eighty  persons  inhabited  a  village  composed  of  thirty-two  dwell- 
ing-houses where  there  "  strayed  some  cattle  and  goats,  but  many 
swine  and  poultry."  This  was  doubtless  owing  to  the  uninviting 
character  of  the  country,  and  the  repulsive  austerity  of  manners 
of  the  first  settlers  ;  but  more  than  all,  to  the  mistaken  policy  of 
holding  their  property,  not  in  severalty,  but  as  joint  stock.  Their 
poverty,  however,  proved  their  best  security,  by  procuring  for 
them  a  contemptuous  neglect,  that  left  them  the  uninterrupted 
enjoyment  of  their  little  democratic  commonwealth  until  1692, 
when  it  was  absorbed  by  the  second  charter  of  Massachusetts, 
which  annexed  it  to  that  populous  and  flourishing  province. 

*  Hildreth. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Inducements  to  settle  Massachusetts — Puritans  prevail  upon  the  King  to  give 
them  a  Charter,  under  the  Idea  that  they  were  Churchmen — Some  Account  of 
it — Endicott  settles  Salem — Disturbs  Morton,  cuts  down  May-pole,  and  calls 
the  Place  Mount  Dragon — founds  a  Church  on  Congregational  Principles- 
Arrests  and  transports  Episcopalians — Intrigue  for  removing  the  Charter  to 
America  and  Discussion  thereon — Reasoning  of  the  Emigrants  on  the  Subject 
of  Allegiance — Removing  of  Charter — Large  Immigrations — Cost  of  Outfit — 
Address  to  the  Clergy  of  England — Character  of  the  Puritans. 

THE  settlement  at  Plymouth,  and  the  exaggerated  accounts  of 
its  condition  and  prospects  spread  hy  the  emigrants,  to  induce 
others  to  join  them,  attracted  universal  attention.  Puritanism 
had  not  then  assumed  a  distinct  form,  although  its  ramifications 
were  widely  spread  beneath  the  surface.  It  was  not  deemed 
safe  by  that  party  openly  to  connect  themselves  with  people,  who 
had  commenced  their  settlement  without  a  title,  and  were  avow- 
edly separated  from  the  Church.  It  was  left,  therefore,  to  its 
natural  increase,  and  to  unconnected  and  individual  emigration. 
But  the  leaders  of  this  discontented  party  saw  that  something  of 
the  kind  could  be  effected  upon  a  large  scale,  if  their  real  inten- 
tions were  properly  masked  in  the  first  instance.  There  were  at 
that  time  three  objects  that  occupied  men's  minds  in  connection 
with  emigration..  First,  to  avoid  ecclesiastical  control ;  secondly, 
to  spread  the  gospel  among  the  savages ;  and  thirdly,  to  aid  and 
further  commercial  pursuits.  Each  had  its  advocates,  and  for 
each,  men  were  willing  to  advance  the  requisite  funds,  and  incur 
the  inevitable  risk.  The  most  able,  artful,  persevering,  and  in- 
fluential of  these  parties  were  the  Puritans.  Calling  themselves 
churchmen,  they  eulogized  the  liberality,  and  encouraged  the 
ardor  of  those  who,  in  attempting  to  employ  a  trading  company 
to  convert  the  heathen,  exhibited  more  zeal  than  knowledge.  To 
those  who  were  inclined  to  seek  their  fortunes  in  the  New  World 
as  husbandmen,  they  praised  the  soil,  extolled  the  climate,  and 
dwelt  on  the  advantage  of  living  in  a  country  exempt  from  taxes, 
in  the  capacity  of  proprietors,  and  not  as  tenants.  To  merchants 
who  regard  trapping  beavers  with  more  interest  than  taming  sav- 
ages, it  was  only  necessary  to  mention  the  advantage  navigation 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  29 

Would  derive  from  a  port  in  a  distant  land,  where  provisions  could 
be  procured  and  ships  repaired,  or  laid  up  in  safety  in  winter. 

It  was  one  of  the  best  vailed,  deepest  laid,  and  most  skillfully 
executed  schemes  to  be  met  with  in  history.  After  these  three 
parties  were  engaged  in  the  work,  and  had  pledged  their  funds  to 
forward^  the  undertaking,  they  purchased  from  the  Council  of 
Plymouth  all  the  territory  extending  from  three  miles  north  of  the 
river  Merrimack,  to  three  miles  south  of  Charles  River,  and  in 
breadth  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Southern  Ocean.  Their  legal 
advisers,  however,  expressed  some  doubts  as  to  the  propriety  of 
founding  a  colony  on  the  basis  of  a  grant  from  a  private  company 
of  patentees,  who  might  convey  a  right  of  property  in  the  soil, 
but  could  not  confer  the  jurisdiction  or  privilege  of  governing  that 
society,  which  they  contemplated  to  establish.  As  it  was  only 
from  royal  authority  such  powers  could  be  derived,  it  became 
necessary  for  them  to  lose  no  time  in  making  their  application  to 
the  king.  But-  how  was  he  to  be  won  over  and  cajoled  1  They 
were  aware  that  he  was  open  to  flattery,  but  they  knew  also  that 
he  was  suspicious  of  Low  Churchmen,  whom  he  very  justly  consid- 
ered as  little  better  than  Dissenters  ;  that  he  was  surrounded  by 
able  counselors,  and  alive  to  his  own  interest  and  that  of  the 
State.  The  task  was  a  difficult  one,  but  as  its  success  was  in- 
dispensable to  their  future  objects,  they  approached  it  with  the 
firmness  and  courage  of  determined  men.  With  the  most  un- 
blushing effrontery  they  spoke  to  him  of  their  dear  Mother  Church 
in  terms  of  great  affection  and  regard,  enlarged  upon  his  duty  to 
christianize  the  heathen,  who  all  over  the  world  were  falling  a 
prey  to  the  Jesuits,  while  discontented  Protestants  were  quarrel- 
ing about  small  matters  of  forms.  They  descanted  with  great 
apparent  sincerity  upon  the  danger  of  leaving  the  Continent  open 
to  other  nations  to  intrude  upon,  and  portrayed  in  glowing  terms 
the  vast  advantages  that  would  accrue  to  his  Majesty's  treasury 
from  an  increase  of  commerce.  The  king  was  delighted  to  find  that 
the  doubts  he  had  entertained  of  the  loyalty  and  orthodoxy  of  some 
of  the  company  were  groundless,  and  the  offer  to  extend  the  limits 
of  his  dominions,  to  plant  his  Church  in  America,  and,  by  stimu- 
lating commerce,  to  add  to  his  revenue  (which  was  very  inade- 
quate to  his  wants),  was  too  agreeable  to  be  refused.  A  charter 
of  confirmation  was,  therefore,  granted  to  his  loving  subjects, 
dated  4th  March,  1628. 


30  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

By  this  patent  the  company  was  incorporated  by  the  name  of 
"  The  Governor  and  Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  in  New 
England,"  to  have  perpetual  succession,  to  choose  a  Governor, 
Deputy  Governor,  and  eighteen  assistants,  on  the  last  Wednesday 
in  Easter  Term  yearly,  and  to  make  laws,  not  repugnant  to  those 
of  England,  "whereby,"  to  use  the  words  of  the  king  in  the  pa- 
tent, "  our  said  people  inhabiting  there  may  be  so  religiously, 
peaceably,  and  civilly  governed,  as  their  good  life  and  orderly  con- 
versation may  win  and  invite  the  natives  of  that  country  to  the 
knowledge  and  obedience  of  the  only  true  God  and  Saviour  of 
mankind  and  the  Christian  faith,  which,  in  our  royal  intention, 
and  the  adventurers'  free  profession,  is  the  principal  end  of  this 
plantation."  The  governor  and  assistants  were  required  to  ad- 
minister the  oaths  of  supremacy  and  allegiance  to  all  persons  who 
from  time  to  time  should  go  thither.  As  a  compensation  for  the 
great  outlay  which  they  would  necessarily  incur  in  so  onerous  an 
undertaking,  they  were  exempted  from  all  taxes  aiid  subsidies  for 
seven  years  within  the  colony,  and  from  custom  duties  in  En- 
gland for  the  space  of  twenty  years. 

While  these  negotiations  were  going  on,  the  company  dispatch- 
ed a  small  party  under  Endicott,  an  active  and  zealous  agent, 
but  an  imprudent  and  violent  man,  to  select  a  place  for  settle- 
ment. The  part  he  made  choice  of  was  known  by  the  natives  as 
Hanekeag,  which,  according  to  the  affectation  of  his  sect,  to  employ 
the  language  and  appellations  of  Scripture  in  the  common  affairs 
of  life,  he  called  Salem.  He  was  particularly  cautioned  not  to  com- 
mit any  rash  act  at  that  juncture,  as  it  was  the  intention  as  well 
as  the  interest  of  the  association,  "  to  keep  an  obsequious  eye  to 
the  State ;"  his  first  measure,  however,  was  an  illegal  invasion 
of  a  neighboring  plantation.  A  man  of  the  name  of  Morton  resided 
not  far  off,  on  lands  held  under  a  patent  from  the  same  Great 
Plymouth  Company,  from  which  they  themselves  derived  their 
title.  This  place,  in  a  most  godless  manner,  he  ventured  to  call 
"  Merry  Mount,"  and  decorated  it  with  a  may-pole,  the  first  real 
"  liberty  staff"  ever  erected  in  New  England.  Such  a  scandal 
in  the  eyes  of  this  rueful  agent  justified  invasion.  He  and  his 
party  proceeded  thither,  removed  the  abomination,  and  threatened 
to  disperse  the  people  whose  profaneness  shocked  his  own  asso- 
ciates, and  set  a  dangerous  example  to  the  savages.  To  testify  his 
horror  at  their  impiety,  he  named  their  abode  "  Mount  Dragon." 


THE    ENGLISH    IX  AMERICA.  31 

J 

Among  those  who  soon  after  joined  Endicott,  were  two  gen- 
tlemen of  the  name  of  Brown,  men  of  large  property,  original 
patentees,  and  of  most  unexceptionable  conduct.  Duped  by  the 
professions  of  the  Puritans,  who  called  themselves  Episcopalians, 
who  spoke  of  the  Church  as  "  Their  dear  Mother,"  who  avowed 
their  motives  to  be  the  advancement  of  religion,  and  had  accept- 
ed the  charter  on  condition  of  taking  the  oaths  of  supremacy  and 
allegiance,  they  never  for  a  moment  supposed  they  could  be  the 
victims  of  treachery.  They  were  appointed  councilors  to  Endi- 
cott, who  had  been  advanced  to  the  rank  of  governor,  and  were 
especially  recommended  to  his  "  favor  and  furtherance."  They 
had  sincerely  at  heart  one  of  the  main  objects  of  the  association, 
and  the  only  one  that  had  induced  them  to  take  any  interest  in 
the  company,  the  evangelizing  the  heathen.  To  their  horror 
they  soon  found  they  had  been  entrapped  into  a  sectarian  league, 
in  which  it  was  difficult  at  that  time  to  say  whether  trade  or 
puritanisrn  was  most  predominant.  But  it  was  manifest  to  them 
that  instead  of  there  existing  any  intention  in  the  local  board  to 
spread  the  Gospel,  their  object  was  to  confine  it  within  the  small- 
est possible  limits,  as  in  their  opinion  a  chosen  people,  like  them- 
selves, were  the  best  depository  for  that  which  was  designed 
rather  for  the  elect,  than  for  mankind. 

The  governor  had  been  advised  by  the  separatists  at  Plymouth, 
to  lose  no  time  in  organizing  a  Church,  and  accordingly  a  confes- 
sion of  faith  was  drawn  up,  and  signed  by  him  and  his  party. 
In  this  first  transaction,  they  displayed  the  extent  of  the  innova- 
tion at  which  they  aimed.  They  elected  a  pastor,  a  teacher, 
and  an  elder,  whom  they  set  apart  for  their  respective  offices  by 
imposition  of  hands  of  the  brethren  ;  and  they  resolved  that  no 
person  should  thereafter  be  received  into  communion,  until  he 
gave  satisfaction  to  the  society  with  respect  to  his  faith  and 
sanctity.  The  form  of  worship  they  instituted  was  without  a 
liturgy,  disencumbered  of  every  superfluous  ceremony,  and  re- 
duced to  the  most  extreme  standard  of  Calvinistic  simplicity. 
The  Browns,  however,  nnd.  their  friends  met  as  usual  on  Sunday, 
and  read  the  service  and  offices  for  the  day  from  the  Prayer-book. 
For  this  offense  they  were  summoned  to  appear  before  the  gov- 
ernor, and  answer  for  their  contumelious  conduct,  and  heretical 
doctrine.  At  the  time  appointed  they  expostulated  with  their 
bigoted  and  arbitrary  ruler.  They  told  him  they  were  Episco 


32  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

palians  (as  they  had  believed,  when  they  entered  into  the  asso- 
ciation, every  other  member  was) ;  that  they  thought  so  wide  a 
departure  from  the  charter  and  their  oaths,  as  exhibited  by  the 
covenant  which  they  had  so  recently  executed,  would  lead  to  the 
lowest  forms  of  dissent,  and  eventually  terminate  in  the  loss  of 
their  patent.  At  all  events,  they  said,  to  belong  to  the  National 
Church  was  not  a  criminal  act  in  any  part  of  the  king's  do- 
minions ;  that  their  charter  reserved  to  them  all  the  rights  of 
British  subjects,  and  above  all,  expressly  forbade  them  from 
making  any  law  repugnant  to  those  of  England. 

They  were  given  to  understand  in  very  violent  language,  that 
they  were  not  in  Europe,  but  in  America,  and  that  though  they 
might  be  right  as  to  its  not  being  illegal  to  profess  the  doctrine 
of  the  establishment,  yet  creating  divisions  (which  separation  did) 
was  a  serious  offense,  and  very  dangerous  in  its  tendency.  They 
were  accordingly  sentenced  to  close  confinement,  and  to  be  trans- 
ported back  to  London  by  the  first  vessel.  While  their  persons 
were  thus  secured,  their  desks  were  forced,  and  their  letters  to 
their  private  friends  abstracted,  for  the  purpose  "  of  preventing 
the  reputation  of  the  colony  from  being  injured."  Bancroft,  their 
devoted  admirer  and  apologist,  thus  condenses  the  reasons  of  the 
colonists  for  this  persecution.*  "  Should  the  emigrants  give  up 
the  very  purpose  for  which  they  had  crossed  the  Atlantic  ? 
should  hierarchy  intrude  upon  their  devotions  in  the  forests  of 
Massachusetts  ?  They  deemed  the  co-existence  of  prelacy  and 
their  liberty  impossible.  Anticipating  an  invasion  of  their  rights, 
they  feared  the  adherents  of  the  establishment,  as  spies  in  the 
camp,  and  the  form  of  religion  from  which  they  had  suffered  was 
repelled,  not  as  a  sect  but  as  a  tyranny.  They  were  banished 
from  Salem  because  they  were  Churchmen.  Thus  was  Episco- 
pacy first  professed  in  New  England,  and  thus  was  it  exiled." 

On  their  release  in  their  native  country,  the  Browns  remon- 
strated bitterly  against  the  perversion  of  the  charter  by  so  gross 
an  outrage  committed  on  themselves.  The  company,  with  a 
caution  and  adroitness  that  never  forsook  them,  and  ever  after 
formed  their  most  striking  characteristic,  stifled  the  complaint  by 
having  it  referred  to  arbitration,  and 'escaped  animadversion  by 
withdrawing  it  from  public  discussion. t  The  Browns  found  in 

•  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  ii.  p.  349. 

t  Hutchtnson  says  the  result  of  this  reference  is  not  known. 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  33 

the  course  of  these  proceedings  the  whole  aspect  of  affairs  changed 
Many  of  the  original  shareholders  had  sold  out  or  lost  their 
interest  in  the  speculation.  Every  thing  was  managed  with 
such  secrecy  by  a  few  influential  members,  that  it  was  manifest 
some  very  serious  and  dangerous  plot  was  in  agitation,  and  they 
quitted  the  company  in  disgust.  Their  suspicions  were  soon 
justified,  by  one  of  the  most  singular  events  in  the  history  of  En- 
,gland,  and  by  far  the  most  important  one  in  that  of  America,  the 
fraudulent  and  clandestine  removal  of  the  charter  to  Massachusetts. 

We  have  seen  how  the  king  and  the  Church  were  duped  as  to 
the  real  objects  of  the  association.  The  merchant  adventurers 
were  equally  deluded.  Their  contributions  were  spent  in  found- 
ing a  colony ;  no  trade  was  ever  carried  on  for  their  joint  ac- 
count, or  ever  intended  to  be,  and  at  the  end  of  seven  years  the 
partnership  was  closed  and  no  dividend  whatever  declared,  or 
any  compensation  made  to  the  unfortunate  absentees  by  those 
who  had  possessed  themselves  of  the  whole  property.  The  re- 
peated instances  of  duplicity  in  which  they  had  succeeded,  paved 
the  way  for  the  seizure  of  the  patent,  an  act  that  surpassed  them 
all  in  boldness  of  design  and  dexterity  of  execution.  Several 
persons  of  station  and  means  attached  to  the  party  who,  as  it  has 
been  well  observed,  "  feared  more  than  they  suffered,"  privately 
tampered  with  the  governor,  Mr.  Craddock,  and  offered  to  emi- 
grate with  their  families  provided  the  charter  could  be  removed 
with  them.  With  this  important  instrument  in  their  hands, 
three  thousand  miles  away  from  the  Star  Chamber  and  visitorial 
power  of  the  king,  they  said  they  would  feel  secure  from  intru- 
sion. Craddock,  knowing  how  much  better  their  affairs  would 
be  managed  by  a  local  administration,  fell  into  their  views,  and 
at  a  meeting  at  the  general  court  in  London,  in  1629,  proposed 
to  the  board  "  for  the  advancing  the  plantations,  for  the  inducing 
of  persons  of  wealth  and  quality  to  remove  thither,  and  for  other 
weighty  reasons,  to  transfer  the  government  to  those  who  shall 
inhabit  them,  and  to  continue  no  longer  the  same  subordination 
to  the  company  here." 

Such  an  extraordinary  proposition  naturally  led  to  a  warm 
debate.  Those  who  were  not  in  the  plot  were  taken  by  surprise, 
and  argued  the  point  as  if  it  had  not  been  predetermined  upon.* 

*  Hutchinson  (vol.  i.  p.  18)  says,  "It  is  evident  from  the  Charter,  that  the 
original  design  of  it  was,  to  constitute  a  corporation  in  England  like  to  that  of 


34  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

They  said  their  charter,  like  those  of  all  other  trading  associa- 
tions, and  especially  like  that  of  the  East  India  Company,  was 
intended  to  be  kept,  and  its  officers  to  meet  in  England  ;  that  to 
remove  it  would  be  utterly  useless,  for  it  was  not  a  constitution, 
but  a  corporation,  and  wholly  inapplicable  to  the  purposes  of  a 
civil  government,  which  it  never  contemplated  ;  that  it  contained 
no  provision  for  a  judicature,  or  executive  body,  or  a  legislature  ; 
that  a  whole  people,  though  freemen,  could  not  assemble  four 
times  a  year,  and  there  was  no  power  of  delegation  given  to 
them  ;  but  above  all  that  it  was  a  flagrant  act  of  usurpation, 
and  a  daring  attempt  to  infringe  upon  the  king's  rights.  The 
conspirators  affected  to  be  strongly  impressed  with  these  powerful 
reasons,  and  said  there  was  so  much  weight  in  them  that  they 
would  consult  counsel,  and  for  that  purpose  adjourned  the  meet- 
ing, having  first  agreed,  however,  "  To  carry  the  matter  secret, 
that  it  be  not  divulged." 

This  opposition  and  delay  having  been  foreseen,  was  provided 
against.  They  had  taken  the  precaution  to  retain  a  puritan 
lawyer,  of  the  name  of  White,  whose  knowledge  seems  to  have 
been  on  a  level  with  his  honesty,  who  had  an  opinion  on  the 
subject  already  prepared ;  and  at  the  next  court  it  was  resolved 
"  That  the  government  of  the  colony  be  transferred  to  New  En- 
gland." This  decision,  however,  was  far  from  being  satisfactory 
to  all  the  members.  There  were  many  present  who  had  adven- 
tured their  money,  that  had  no  idea  of  emigrating,  and  who  did 
not  like  to  have  both  their  property  and  patent  transferred  to 
another  hemisphere.  An  attempt  to  compromise  was  made  by 
resolving  that  "  the  government  of  persons"  should  be  established 
in  Massachusetts,  and  "  the  government  of  trade  and  merchan- 
dise" be  retained  in  London.  Professions  and  promises  were  so 
familiar  with  the  conspirators,  that  they  obtained  their  purpose 
by  resorting  to  them  now.  The  "  planters"  undertook  and  en- 

the  East  India  and  other  great  companies,  with  power  to  settle  plantations 
within  the  limits  of  the  territory,  under  such  forms  of  government,  and  magis- 
tracy, as  should  be  fit  and  necessary."  Bancroft  (Hist.  vol.  i.  p.  384),  speaking 
of  Sir  Harry  Vane,  says,  "  Hitf  clear  mind,  unbiassed  by  previous  discussions, 
and  fresh  from  the  public  business  of  England,  saw  distinctly  what  the  colonists 
did  not  wish  to  see,  the  really  wide  difference  between  the  practice  under  their 
Charter,  and  the  meaning  of  the  instrument  on  the  principles  of  English  juris- 
prudence." Kent  and  Story  are  of  the  same  opinion,  and  so  is  Robertson.  See 
his  "  History  of  America,"  vol.  iv.  p.  282.  Indeed  the  only  wonder  is,  that  any 
person  could  be  found  to  think  it  even  admitted  of  a  doubt. 


THE   ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA.  33 

gaged  with  the  "  adventurers,"  for  so  the  respective  resident  and 
non-resident  parties  were  designated,  to  divide  the  whole  joint 
stock,  with  all  its  vast  accumulations,  at  the  end  of  seven  years, 
and  pay  over  or  assign  to  each  proprietor  his  respective  share. 
A  fortune  at  the  end  of  seven  years  they  considered  better  than 
a  present  quarrel,  and  they  yielded.  It  was  the  last  they  ever 
saw  of  the  emigrants,  and  all  that  they  ever  heard  of  their  trans- 
atlantic stock. 

Such  has  ever  been  the  fate  of  a  union  between  hypocrisy  and 
avarice.  The  regular  habits,  devout  conduct,  and  high  profes- 
sions of  the  former,  selddm  fail  in  obtaining  the  control  of  the 
funds,  and  the  temptation  to  appropriate  them  is  too  strong  for 
simulated  honesty.  However  humiliating  to  sectarians  the  fact 
may  be,  it  must  be  admitted  that  dissent  thus  set  the  first  ex- 
ample of  absconding  to  America  with  partnership  effects.  Having 
equally  deprived  the  king,  the  Church,  the  savages,  and  the 
"  adventurers"  of  their  rights,  it  was  necessary  now  to  delude 
themselves,  and  silence,  if  possible,  their  own  scruples,  if  their 
doubts  deserve  such  a  respectable  name.  A  new,  important, 
and  very  difficult  question  arose  for  their  consideration,  in  what 
relation  were  they  to  stand  to  the  mother  country  ?  Most  of  the 
proprietors  held  that  they  had  a  perfect  right  without  any  charter 
from  the  crown,  to  establish  such  sort  of  government  as  they 
thought  proper,  arid  to  form  a  new  commonwealth,  as  fully  as  if 
they  were  in  a  state  of  nature,  and  were  making  their  first  en- 
trance into  civil  society. 

Men  who  can  justify  a  separation  from  their  Church,  and  see 
no  sin  in  schism,  can  soon  satisfy  themselves  that  fealty  is  a  local, 
and  not  a  general  duty.  With  respect  to  implied  allegiance,  the 
only  true  and  sensible  view  of  the  matter,  it  was  argued,  was 
that  subjection  was  of  two  kinds,  necessary  and  voluntary.  From 
actual  residence  within  any  government,  there  naturally  arose  an 
obligation  to  submit  to  the  laws  and  authority  thereof.  But 
birth  was  no  necessary  cause  of  allegiance.  The  subjects  of  any 
prince  or  nation  had  a  perfect  right  to  remove  to  any  other  state 
or  part  of  the  world,  unless  their  own  country  were  weakened  or 
exposed  by  such  removal,  and  even  in  that  case  if  they  were  de- 
prived of  liberty  of  conscience  it  would  justify  a  separation,  and 
upon  their  departure  their  co-relative  obedience  determined  and 
ceased  altogether.  The  country  to  which  they  were  about  to 


96  THE    ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA. 

remove  was  claimed  and  possessed  by  absolute  princes,  -whose 
title  to  the  lordship  and  sovereignty  thereof  had  been  acknowl- 
edged by  kings  of  England,  by  purchasing  some  portion  of  their 
territory ;  this  they  also  proposed  to  do,  and  then  they  would 
stand  in  their  place,  as  original  and  independent  proprietors  of 
the  soiL  It  was  obvious,  therefore,  they  said,  that  as  their  mi- 
gration from  England  would  terminate  their  necessary  civil  sub- 
jection, their  patent  would  be  a  great  protection,  not  merely 
from  foreign  aggression  but  from  the  king  himself;  for  at  most  it 
would  only  create  a  voluntary  sort  of  dependence,  and  if  any 
question  should  arise  as  to  its  nature  and  extent,  it  must  be  de- 
cided by  the  document  itself.  Their  situation,  and  that  of  the 
people  of  London,  it  was  argued,  was  widely  different.  The 
compact  between  the  sovereign  and  the  inhabitants  of  that  city, 
as  contained  in  its  charter,  was  not  the  origin  of  their  allegiance, 
but  their  actual  residence,  and  so  soon  as  any  of  them  removed 
out  of  the  kingdom,  that  necessary  subjection  immediately  changed 
its  nature,  and  became  optional. 

Now  what  would  be  the  character  of  the«new  relation  in 
which  they  would  stand  to  the  king  ?  for  that  was  an  important 
question.  It  was,  they  said,  simply  .an  understanding,  not  to 
subject  themselves  to,  or  seek  protection  from  any  other  princes, 
and  this  they  were  willing  to  promise.  Having  silenced  or  satis- 
fied their  apprehensions  by  this  mode  of  reasoning,  and  assured 
themselves  that  accepting  their  patent  involved  no  compromise 
of  this  liberty,  they  set  themselves  to  work  in  earnest  to  prepare 
for  embarkation.  A  fleet  of  fourteen  sail  was  assembled  for  the 
transportation  of  fifteen  hundred  passengers,  and  on  the  sixth  day 
of  July  twelve  of  the  ships  arrived  at  Massachusetts  Bay,  con- 
veying the  governor,  the  officers  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  the 
charter.  The  expense  of  this  equipment  amounted  to  twenty- 
erne  thousand  two  hundred  pounds  sterling.* 

On  the  19th  of  October,  1630,  the  first  General  Court  was 
held  at  Boston,  where  the  charter  was  produced,  and  publicly 
read  to  the  assembled  people,  amid  the  most  profound  silence,  and 
listened  to  with  the  deepest  emotions  of  veneration  and  delight 
by  those  whose  independence  its  removal  had  effectually  secured. 
This  was  the  commencement  of  the  republic  of  Massachusetts. 

*  The  expense  of  settling  this  colony  amounted,  daring  the  first  twelve  years, 
to  two  hundred  thousand  poouds.  See  1st  Douglas,  428. 


THE   ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA.  37 

It  was  founded  on  democratic  principles,  guarded  with  the  most 
zealous  vigilance,  and  supported  and  extended  with  cautious,  but 
determined  resolution ;  when  they  surveyed  their  situation  they 
felt  assured  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  within.  They  were 
all  democrats,  and  alike  hostile  to  the  Church  and  State  they 
had  so  cheerfully  abandoned  at  home.  But  when  they  reflected 
on  their  isolated  situation,  the  inadequacy  of  their  means  to  such 
a  vast  undertaking  as  settling  a  community  of  strangers  in  a 
wilderness,  the  distrust  with  which  they  knew  they  would  be  re- 
garded by  the  Church,  and  the  indignation  which  the  removal  of 
their  charter  would  naturally  excite  in  the  Court,  they  were 
alarmed,  but  such  was  their  courage  and  self-reliance,  they  were 
not  dismayed  or  discouraged.  They  apprehended  danger  from 
three  sources,  the  Crown,  the  Hierarchy,  and  the  Parliament,  as 
they  were  equally  dreaded,  and  hated. ;  they  continued  until  the 
close  of  the  war  of  independence,  in  1783,  to  be  objects  of  their 
peculiar  aversion. 

The  deception  practiced  by  these  people  throughout  the  whole 
of  their  negotiation  in  England,  seems  to  admit  of  no  further  ad- 
dition, but  their  very  last  act  was  to  publish  a  manifesto  to  the 
clergy  of  the  Established  Church,  assuring  them  that  they  were 
in  fact  and  in  heart  members  of  the  same  communion,  and  solicit- 
ed their  prayers  and  their  blessings  on  this  undertaking.  They 
entreated  them  to  believe,  to  use  their  own  words :  "  that  they 
esteemed  it  their  honor  to  call  the  Church  of  England  their  dear 
mother,  and  they  could  not  leave  the  country  where  she  resided 
without  tears  in  their  eyes.  We  leave  it  not,  therefore,"  they 
said,  "  as  loathing  that  milk  wherewith  we  were  nourished  there. 
But  blessing  God  for  the  parentage  and  education,  and  as  mem- 
bers of  the  same  body  shall  rejoice  in  her  good,  and  while  we 
have  breath,  sincerely  desire  and  endeavor  the  continuance  and 
abundance  of  her  welfare,  with  the  enlargement  of  her  bounds 
in  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ,"*  and  much  more  to  the  same 
effect.  History  can  scarcely  furnish  such  an  instance  of  consum- 
mate hypocrisy. 

The  accounts  of  their  early  settlement  in  general  circulation 
are  chiefly  those  written  by  themselves  or  their  descendants,  who 
are  their  eulogists.  Such  being  the  case,  truth  can  only  be  as- 

*  See  the  original  letter  in  Book  n.  Chap.  7,  of  this  work. 


J8  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

certained  by  a  careful  examination  of  original  documents  and  ob- 
solete contemporaneous  works.  They  were  always  anxious  to  be 
considered  as  martyrs,  and  laid  claim  to  all  that  is  noble  in  con- 
duct, exalted  in  principle,  and  pure  in  religion,  while  the  sover- 
eign whom  they  duped,  has  been  represented  as  a  tyrant,  and  the 
prelates,  whom  they  publicly  flattered  and  privately  traduced, 
have  been  held  up  to  the  world  as  cruel  and  senseless  bigots. 
There  was  no  doubt  much  in  the  conduct  of  the  king  that  can 
not  be  justified,  and  in  the  hierarchy  of  the  day  that  is  deeply  to 
be  regretted,  but  rebellious  subjects  compel  monarchs  to  be  cruel 
in  self-defense,  and  a  priest  may  well  be  excused,  if  he  thinks 
schism  aggravated  by  deception  and  falsehood. 

The  object  of  this  extraordinary  manifesto  is  evident  enough, 
but  neither  the  persecution  of  the  old,  nor  thp  possession  of  the 
new  world,  justifies  them  in  sacrificing  that,  without  which  life 
in  either  hemisphere  would  find  no  security  but  in  brute  force. 
It  has  been  said  in  extenuation  of  their  conduct,  that  they  had 
not  formally  seceded  from  the  Church,  at  the  time  they  circulated 
this  valedictory  address.  The  answer  is,  Congregationalism  they 
knew  had  already  been  adopted  at  Salem  before  they  left  England, 
by  their  agent  Endicott,  and  subsequently  confirmed  by  their  ap- 
probation. And,  furthermore,  that  as  soon  as  they  could  possibly 
devote  a  day  to  it,  from  their  indispensable  duties,  they  again  es- 
tablished it  at  Boston  and  Cambridge,  with  the  utmost  unanim- 
ity among  the  people,  and  the  consent  of  every  man  that  signed 
that  touching  appeal  to  their  "  Dear  Brethren." 

Such  were  the  people  who  laid  the  foundation  of  republicanism 
in  America.  There  is  much  in  their  conduct  to  admire  and 
applaud,  and  much  to  reprove  and  condemn.  The  bright  lights 
and  dark,  shades  of  their  character  are  in  such  contrast,  that,  to 
do  them  justice  and  preserve  the  impartiality  of  history,  it  will 
be  difficult  to  avoid  the  charge  of  inconsistency,  so  different  must 
the  language  occasionally  be,  that  is  extorted  by  truth  on  the  one 
hand,  or  awarded  by  slander  on  the  other.  If,  therefore,  the 
meed  of  panegyric,  to  which  they  are  often  justly  entitled,  shall 
seem  irreconcilable  with  the  terms  in  which  their  duplicity,  ob- 
stinacy, and  cruelty  are  denounced,  it  must  be  recollected  that 
their  defects,  no  less  than  their  virtues,  contributed  to  form  that 
indomitable  character  for  dogged  resolution,  without  which  they 
never  would  have  1'tvu  non-conformists  in  England,  or  republi- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  39 

cans  in  America.  To  overlook  these  distinctions  would  betray  a 
total  ignorance  of  human  nature  ;  to  attempt  to  palliate  or  con- 
ceal them,  would  lead  to  the  suspicion  that  disingenousness  is 
infectious,  and  that  it  can  not  even  be  contemplated  without  dan- 
ger. They  have  alternately  been  the  subject  of  extravagant 
eulogy,  or  unmitigated  abuse,  according  to  the  medium  of  relig- 
ious or  political  prejudice,  through  which  they  have  been  view- 
ed. Nothing  can  be  further  from  the  truth  than  either  of  these 
extreme  opinions.  Their  character,  like  that  of  most  men,  was 
mixed,  but  unlike  that  of  any  other  people,  was  distinguished  for 
qualities  so  totally  opposite,  and  yet  so  strongly  developed  and  so 
powerfully  contrasted,  that  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  they 
could  be  combined  without  neutralizing  each  other.  Their  con- 
duct exhibits  so  much  despotism,  and  so  ardent  a  love  of  liberty, 
so  great  a  degree  of  superstition,  and  so  much  practical  good  sense, 
such  refined  casuistry,  and  Jesuitical  double-dealing,  united  with 
extraordinary  frankness  and  manly  behavior,  so  little  regard  for 
the  form  of  jurisprudence,  and  so  warm  an  attachment  to  con- 
stitutional law,  so  much  impatience  of  restraint  or  interference 
from  others,  with  such  a  strqng  predilection  to  intermeddle  with 
or  control  their  neighbors,  that  general  terms  are  manifestly  in- 
applicable to  them.  Their  acts  must  be  separately  considered, 
and  severally  praised  or  censured  according  to  their  deserts.  In 
searching  for  the  causes  that  led  to  the  formation  and  develop- 
ment of  this  extraordinary  character,  we  must  regard  their  con- 
dition in  their  native  country,  and  the  circumstances  that  mould- 
ed their  opinions,  and  called  forth  the  peculiarities  that  I  have 
alluded  to. 

At  the  period  of  their  leaving  England,  the  great  majority  of 
them,  though  conforming  to  the  Established  Church,  were  at 
heart  dissentients,  having  undergone  the  probation  of  complying, 
but  not  agreeing ;  obeying  but  not  respecting ;  combining  but 
not  uniting ;  assembling  in  churches  where  every  thing  that 
they  saw  or  heard  shocked  them  as  unscriptural  and  superstitious, 
using  the  Prayer-book  but  rejecting  it  as  papistical,  listening  to 
clergymen  whose  authority  they  despised  and  whose  doctrine 
they  denied ;  and  above  all,  to  bishops  whom  they  believed  to 
be  neither  Papists  nor  Protestants,  but  amphibious  beings  clothed 
in  all  the  frippery,  and  practicing  all  the  mummery  of  the  first, 
without  possessing  their  antiquity  or  authority,  and  yet  claiming 


*0  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

to  belong  to  the  other,  without  having  the  purity  of  their  doctrine, 
the  simple  rigor  of  their  discipline,  or  the  independence  of  their 
self-government.  Nothing  can  be  more  destructive  of  true  piety, 
ingenuous  conduct,  and  simplicity  of  mind,  than  insincere  con- 
formity, when  either  adopted  from  prudential  motives,  or  sub- 
mitted to  from  compulsion.  Pretending  to  be  what  we  are  not, 
and  holding  out  ourselves  to  the  government  or  to  the  world  as 
Churchmen,  when  in  reality  we  are  Dissenters  or  Romanists,  is, 
in  fact,  hypocrisy,  and  no  man  can  long  wear  that  garb,  without 
a  total  change  in  his  character.  The  essence  of  hypocrisy  is 
falsehood.  If  a  man  inclines  to  the  belief,  that  simulated  com- 
pliance with  unsound  doctrines,  or  unscriptural  churches,  is  de- 
fensible, he  naturally  seeks  for  plausible  reasons  to  satisfy  his  own 
scruples,  and  if  he  succeed  in  deceiving  himself,  the  inevitable 
tendency  of  his  mind  is  to  attempt  to  deceive  others. 

.  Dissent  is  progressive.  When  privately  indulged  for  any  length 
of  time  it  grows  too  burdensome  for  a  secret,  and  requires  to  be 
acknowledged,  and  when  announced  it  assunfes  a  new  name  and 
a  new  form,  and  ripens  into  secession.  Its  waters,  however,  are 
then  drugged  with  bitterness  and  strife,  and  whoever  drinks  of 
them  soon  finds  their  baneful  operation  on  his  temper,  on  the 
affections  of  his  heart,  and  in  all  his  social  relations  of  life,  while 
he  experiences  a  sympathetic  change  on  his  political  creed,  and 
becomes  familiarized  with  violent  and  seditious  measures.  De- 
manding a  charitable  construction  on  his  own  motives  and  con- 
duct, he  is  not  willing  to  concede  it  to  others ;  and  as  people  sel- 
dom forgive  those  whom  they  have  injured,  he  views  the  mem- 
bers of  the  church  he  has  left  with  all  the  acrimony  of  an  enemy, 
and  all  the  vindictive  energy  of  an  insulted  and  outraged  friend. 
To  the  forced  compliance  or  voluntary  nonconformity  of  the 
Pilgrim  Fathers,  as  well  as  the  cold  Calvinistic  tenets  of  their 
faith,  maybe  traced  their  austere  manners  and  gloomy  dispositions 
their  subtle  reasoning  and  adroit  evasions,  their  unrelenting  per- 
secutions, numerous  banishments,  and  barbarous  executions,  their 
unmitigated  hatred  of  episcopacy,  and  deep-rooted  aversion  to 
monarchical  institutions.  On  the  other  hand,  their  patience 
under  toil,  privation,  and  suffering,  their  indomitable  courage  in 
resisting  the  numerous  enemies,  and  overcoming  the  many  diffi- 
culties with  which  they  were  surrounded,  their  energy,  industry, 
and  enterprise,  their  love  of  independence,  their  hospitality,  benevo- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  41 

lence,  and  public  and  private  liberality,  the  unity  that  prevailed 
among  themselves,  their  brotherly  affection  for  each  other,  and 
many  other  correlative  qualities,  are  attributable  in  part  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  stock  from  which  they  sprang,  and  in  part  to  the 
requirements  and  incidents  of  a  forest  home  in  a  new  world.  But 
their  frugality,  temperance,  purity  of  morals,  simplicity  of  man- 
ners, respect  for  the  authorities  of  their  little  State,  both  civil  and 
religious,  and  similar  virtues,  were  all  their  own. 

Such  a  careful  analysis  is  due  both  to  their  character,  and  the 
faithfulness  of  this  narrative.  In  "order  to  make  that  intelligible, 
which  is  otherwise  irreconcilable,  it  is  necessary  to  seek  for  the 
springs  of  action  that  lie  beneath  the  surface,  for  conduct  can 
only  be  duly  appreciated  by  its  motives,  and  effects  be  fully  esti- 
mated by  tracing  them  to  their  real  causes. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Reasoning:  of  the  first  Settlers  as  to  their  Independence — The  Colony  becomes 
a  Republic  from  Necessity — Oaths  of  Supremacy  and  Allegiance  dispensed 
with — They  decline  to  set  up  the  King's  Arms — Mutilate  the  Flag — Drinking 
Healths  abolished — Blackstone's  Remarks  about  the  Lord's  Brethren — Order 
that  none  but  Church  Members  be  admitted  to  be  Freemen — Another,  forbid- 
ding a  Stranger  to  settle  in  the  Colony  without  a  License — Petitioning  the 
King  called  slandering  the  Brethren — Punishment  of  Morton,  Sir  Christopher 
Gardener,  and  Ratcliffe — Morton  publishes  a  Satire  at  Amsterdam — Returns 
to  Massachusetts — Is  fined  and  banished  again — Intimate  Connection  between 
their  Church  and  State — The  King  orders  several  Vessels  in  the  Thames  to 
be  put  under  Embargo — A  House  of  Representatives  meets  in  Boston,  and 
is  admitted  as  a  Branch  of  the  Legislature — The  Governor  is  not  re-elected, 
and  is  made  to  account  for  his  Expenditure  of  the  public  Moneys — His  manly 
Conduct  on  the  Occasion — A  Code  of  Laws  ordered  to  be  compiled — Also  a 
uniform  System  of  Church  Discipline. 

HAVING  traced  the  origin  of  this  republic,  and  its  history  to  the 
removal  of  the  proprietors  and  their  charter  to  New  England,  I 
shall  now  give  a  brief  sketch  of  their  resolute  and  systematic  de- 
fense of  their  independence  until  the  year  1686,  when  the  patent 
was  revoked.  We  have  seen  that  they  apprehended  aggression 
•from  three  sources,  the  Crown,  the  Hierarchy,  and  the  Parliament. 
It  will  be  instructive  to  show  with  what  courage  they  resisted,  or 
what  ingenuity  they  evaded  compliance  with  the  authority  or 
claims  of  all.  Their  conduct  in  this  particular  was  not  the  re- 
sult of  accident,  or  of  public  distractions  in  England,  or  of  their 
remote  and  isolated  situation,  though  all  contributed  to  favor  theii 
object,  but  it  was  a  predetermined  and  well-concerted  plan. 
They  had  paid  a  large  sum  of  money  to  the  Council  of  New 
Plymouth  for  their  territory,  they  had  fortified  their  title  to  the 
soil  by  purchases  from  the  Indians,  and  they  affected  to  believe 
that  if  the  fortuitous  circumstance  of  prior  discovery  had  conveyed 
any  right  to  the  Crown,  the  king  had  formally  surrendered  it  by 
the  charter,  in  consideration  of  the  conditions  contained  in  it. 
They  regarded  it,  therefore,  as  peculiarly  their  own  country,  and 
they  were  unwilling  to  allow  any  interference  whatever  from  any 
quarter.  The  form  of  the  grant  of  incorporation  caused  at  first 
some  embarrassment,  by  its  total  want  of  adaptation  to  the  pur- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AM  ERIC  A.  43 

poses  to  which  it  had  been  so  unexpectedly  applied.  But  as  it 
was  based  on  general  election,  and  the  governor  and  assistant 
were  chosen  by  the  freemen,  all  power  centred  in  the  people, 
and  the  moment  the  government  was  organized,  it  naturally,  and 
of  necessity,  became  a  republic.  Whatever  authority  the  general 
court  exercised,  was  delegated  by  qualified  voters,  and  the  officers 
they  appointed  received  their  commissions  from  those  whom  they 
empowered  to  issue  them.  The  fundamental  principle,  therefore, 
of  this  little  commonwealth  was  originally  the  same  as  that  which 
now  distinguishes  and  animates  the  individual  States  and  great 
Federal  Republic  of  the  present  day — namely,  that  the  people  are 
the  source  of  all  power. 

At  first,  little  could  be  done  in  matters  of  legislation,  when  the 
individual  wants  and  general  weakness  of  the  whole  community 
required  the  personal  and  continued  exertion  of  all  its  members. 
The  governor,  his  deputy,  and  four  assistants,  were  appointed 
justices  of  the  peace,  with  the  same  powers  exercised  by  persons 
holding  similar  situations  in  England.  A  court  of  civil  and 
criminal  jurisdiction  was  also  created,  consisting  of  the  higher 
officers  of  the  corporation.  In  the  absence  of  all  statute  law,  the 
Bible  was  substituted  as  a  model  and  guide.  In  organizing  the 
judiciary,  a  difficulty  arose  as  to  the  nature  of  the  oaths.  The 
customary  form  of  acknowledging  the  royal  authority  was  evi- 
dently inapplicable,  for  the  people,  and  not  the  king,  was  supreme, 
and  his  name,  therefore,  was  very  quickly  dispensed  with.  The 
oath  of  allegiance  required  some  consideration,  not  whether  it 
should  be  adopted,  for  that  was  not  to  be  thought  of,  but  whether 
it  could  be  so  qualified  as  to  consist  with  their  own  independence, 
or  be  made  contingent  on  residence  and  protection.*  Sins  of 
omission  are  so  much  safer  than  sins  of  commission,  so  much  more 
difficult  of  detection,  and  so  much  more  capable*  of  explanation 
when  discovered,  that  it  was  deemed  prudent  to  omit  it  altogether, 
and  to  substitute  one  of  fidelity  to  the  local  government  instead. 
The  king's  arms  were  not  only  liable  to  the  same  objections,  but 
had  no  warrant  in  Scripture  ;  and  a  tender  conscience  supplied  a 
better  reason  for  declining  to  set  them  up,  than  the  silence  of  the 
charter,  or  their  own  repugnance.  The  royal  colors  were  no  less 
exceptionable.  To  substitute  new  ones  would  be  to  hoist  a  flag 

*  See  an  abstract  oflaws  prepared  for  Massachusetts,  by  Mr.  Cotton. 


44  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

• 

of  independence,  which  it  was  far  more  prudent  quietly  to  maintain 
than  openly  proclaim,  but  there  was  no  valid  objection  why  they 
should  not  be  altered  in  such  a  manner  as  to  retain  their  form  and 
general  appearance,  and  yet  de&troy  their  identity. 

Their  ministers  suggested  a  mode  of  mutilation  that  would 
effectually  answer  their  purpose,  and  a  reason  for  their  conduct 
which  rendered  it  an  imperative  duty.  They  told  them  the 
cross  was  a  relic  of  Romish  superstition,  and  as  such  must  be 
removed,  if  they  were  desirous  of  securing  a  blessing  on  their 
undertakings.  The  uninitiated  militia  at  first  refused  to  muster 
under  this  "new-fangled  flag,"  but  when  its  unscriptural  charac- 
ter was  pointed  out  to  them,  they  admitted  the  propriety  of  the 
alteration,  and  the  cross  was  accordingly  condemned  as  unlawful. 
Foreign  gold  and  silver  coins  marked  in  a  similar  manner  could 
not  be  so  conveniently  defaced,  and  were  suffered  to  pass  current 
without  objection.  They  were  unobtrusive,  and,  humanly  speak- 
ing, merited  toleration  by  their  intrinsic  value,  but  when  weighed 
in  the  balance  with  political  and  religious  principles,  were  found 
wanting,  and  treated  as  mere  dross,  unworthy  of  the  consideration 
of  a  people  who  had  forsaken  Mammon,  and  crossed  the  Atlantic 
to  preserve  and  perpetuate  the  true  faith. 

Thus  we  see  how  carefully  they  abstained  at  the  very  outset, 
from  all  recognition  of  the  power  of  the  Crown,  either  directly  or 
indirectly.  Drinking  to  the  health  of  each  other  at  table,  as  it 
was  followed  by  toasts,  and  long  usage  had  sanctioned  the  priority 
of  the  king's  name,  with  the  usual  benediction  of  "  God  bless 
him,"  it  was  thought  advisable  to  abolish,  as  it  would,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  cause  a  discontinuance  of  the  other  practice,  which 
might  be  a  snare  to  those  whose  intimate  associates  in  England 
thought  no  harm  in  usurping  his  authority,  and  could  see  no  sin 
in  compassing  his  death. 

They  were  now  a  sovereign  people,  but  the  exercise  of  such 
unlimited  power  was  new  to  them,  and  this  novelty,  as  yet  wholly 
unrestrained  by  constitutional  checks,  increased  their  impatience 
of  individual  resistance,  which  is  at  all  times  the  natural  tendency 
of  a  democracy,*  and  made  them  both  arbitrary  and  vindictive 
in  their  conduct.  An  English  Dissenter  of  the  name  of  Black- 
stone,  whom  they  found  living  at  Boston,  and  claiming  it  by 

*  Hubbard's  New  England,  Cbap.  xxvi.    Wonder  Working  Providence,  39. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AM  ERIC  A.  45 

virtue  of  his  discovery  and  possession,  was  soon  made  to  feel  the 
difference  between  republican  and  royal  compulsion  ;  and  on  quit- 
ting the  community,  remarked,  in  the  bitterness  of  disappointed 
feeling,  "  that  he  had  left  England  because  he  did  not  like  the 
Lord's  Bishops,  but  that  he  should  now  leave  them,  for  he  could 
not  stand  the  Lord's  Brethren." 

The  first  emigrants  who  had  a  community  of  feeling  both  on 
political  and  religious  matters,  were  resolved  that  their  country 
should  not  merely  be  independent,  but  that  its  government  should 
be  freed  from  the  interference  of  any  new-comers  who  entertained 
different  opinions  from  themselves.  Dissent  they  knew  they  could 
deal  with,  but  they  knew  also,  that  members  of  the  Church 
of  England,  if  allowed  to  obtain  a  footing  among  them,  would,  as 
a  matter  of  course,  acknowledge  the  king  to  be  their  sovereign, 
keep  him  informed  of  their  usurpations,  and  be  protected  in  their 
worship.  They  therefore  at  this  early  date,  18th  of  May,  1631, 
enacted  in  "  order  that  the  body  of  the  commons  might  be  pre- 
served of  good  and  honest  men,"  that  no  person  should  be  admit- 
ted to  the  freedom  of  the  company,  but  such  as  were  members  oi 
some  of  the  churches  established  by  law.  So  effectually  did  this 
check  the  introduction  of  Episcopalians,  that  during  the  whole 
continuance  of  the  Charter,  not  a  single  congregation  was  collect- 
ed in  all  Massachusetts. 

This  bold  attempt  at  exclusive  sovereignty,  is  thus  lamented  by 
Leechford :  "  None  may  now  be  a  freeman  of  that  company 
unless  he  be  a  Church  member  among  them.  None  have  voice 
in  elections  of  governor,  deputy,  and  assistants,  none  are  to  be 
magistrates,  officers,  or  jurymen,  grand  or  petit,  but  freemen. 
The  ministers  give  their  votes  in  all  elections  of  magistrates. 
Now  the  most  of  the  persons  at  New  England  are  not  admitted 
of  their  Church,  and  therefore  are  not  freemen,  and  when  they 
come  to  be  tried  there,  be  it  for  life  or  limb,  name  or  estate,  or 
whatsoever,  they  must  be  tried  and  judged  too  by  those  of  the 
Church,  who  are  in  a  sort  their  adversaries.  How  equal  that 
hath  been  or  may  be,  some  by  experience  do  know,  others  may 
judge."  Another  law  was  passed  in  the  year  1767,  having  in 
view  the  same  object :  "  That  none  should  be  received  to  inhabit 
within  the  jurisdiction,  but  sueh  as  should  be  allowed  by  some  of 
the  magistrates,"  and  it  was  fully  understood,  that  differing  from 
the  churches  established  in  the  country,  was  as  great  a  disqualifi- 


40  THE    ENGLISH     IN    AMERICA 

cation  as  any  political  opinions.  In  defense  of  this  order,  it  is 
advanced  that  the  apostolic  rule  of  rejecting  such  as  brought  not 
the  true  doctrine  with  them,  -was  as  applicable  to  the  common- 
wealth as  the  Church,  and  that  even  the  profane  were  less  to  be 
dreaded  than  the  able  advocates  of  erroneous  tenets.* 

Complaints  they  could  not  prevent,  nor  could  the  right  to 
petition  the  Crown  be  openly  impugned  but  by  creating  a  new 
offense,  that  of  accusing  the  brethren  ;  no  one  could  petition 
without  being  guilty  of  this  crime.  They  therefore  forbore  to 
press  a  man  to  trial  for  memorializing  the  king  in  council,  but 
they  charged  him  with  slandering  the  brethren,  and  held  him 
liable  to  fine,  imprisonment,  or  corporal  punishment,  or  all  three, 
for  this  petit  treason.  The  intercourse  with  Europe  was  then  so 
limited,  and  the  distance  so  appalling,  that  public  attention  in 
England  was  not  attracted  for  some  time  to  this  glaring  usurpa- 
tion. Morton,  who  had  the  temerity  to  erect  his  May- pole  again 
on  land  not  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts,  was  seized 
by  the  governor  soon  after  his  arrival,  put  into  the  stocks,  and 
transported  to  his  native  country,  where,  we  are  very  gravely 
informed  by  Prince,  "  he  was  not  even  rebuked."  He  was  im- 
prudent enough  to  return  after  his  property  had  thus  been  in- 
vaded, and  himself  imprisoned  and  exiled,  but  was  soon  made 
sensible  of  his  rashness.  The  governor,  affecting  to  espouse  the 
cause  of  an  Indian,  who  disputed  his  right  to  the  possession  of  a 
canoe,  arrested  him,  burned  down  his  establishment,  and  con- 
fiscated his  estate,  to  pay  for  the  expense  of  conveying  him  to 
England. 

In  London  he  was  joined  by  two  other  victims  of  their  cruelty 
and  oppression — Sir  Christopher  Gardner  and  Philip  Ratcliffe, 
who  united  with  him  in  petitioning  the  king  for  redress.  The 
former  had  been  sent  out  by  Sir  Ferdinando  Georges,  as  his 
agent,  for  the  protection  of  a  large  territory  he  had  purchased, 
adjoining  that  of  the  colony  of  Massachusetts.  Whatever  his 
religion  may  have  been,  one  thing  was  certain,  he  was  not  a 
Puritan.  As  a  stranger  wholly  unconnected  with  the  colony,  it 
was  not  a  question  for  their  consideration  whether  he  was  a 
Romanist  or  a  Churchman ;  but  they  assumed  the  fact  that  he 
was  a  Papist,  and  ordered  him  to  be  arrested.  Knowing  their 
cruelty,  and  fearing  the  result,  he  preferred  trusting  to  the  hospi- 

*  See  Minot,  Hist.  Mass..  vol.  I.  p.  29. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  4 

talily  and  protection  of  the  savages,  and  arming  himself,  fled 
into  the  wilderness.  The  Indians,  not  without  some  difficulty, 
were  bribed  to  give  up  to  his  unrelenting  pursuers  their  confiding 
guest,  and  seizing  an  opportunity,  when  deprived  of  his  sword 
and  his  gun,  by  the  upsetting  of  his  canoe,  they  attacked  him 
while  in  the  water,  arid  with  long  poles  beat  him  so  severely 
over  his  hands  and  arms  that  he  was  compelled  to  relinquish  the 
hold  of  his  dagger  (which  was  his  only  weapon)  and  surrender 
himself  a  prisoner.  He  was  first  taken  to  the  jail  in  Plymouth, 
and  then  removed  to  that  of  Boston,  from  whence  he  was  sent 
to  England.  In  the  mean  time  his  papers  were  seized  and  ex- 
amined, and  such  of  them  as  were  thought  of  service  in  develop- 
ing the  plans  of  his  employer,  Sir  Ferdinando  Georges,  were 
retained. 

The  other  complainant  was  Philip  RatclifFe.  He  had  been  a 
servant  of  Craddock,  the  first  charter  governor,  and  falling  ill  in 
his  employ,  on  his  recovery  demanded  wages  from  the  agent  of 
his  master  for  the  lime  he  had  been  disabled.  Disappointed  in 
his  expectations,  he  made  some  disparaging  remarks  about  a 
people  whose  conduct  so  little  comported  with  their  professions. 
For  this  offense  he  was  fined  forty  pounds,  severely  whipped, 
shorn  of  his  ears,  and  banished  forthwith  out  of  the  jurisdiction. 

On  the  complaint  of  these  people,  an  order  in  council  was 
issued  for  an  investigation,  but  the  inquiry  was  deferred  for  the 
time,  by  the  artful  management  of  the  principal  associate,  and 
by  the  secret  assistance  of  some  of  the  council,  who  were  favor- 
able to  the  cause  of  Dissenters.  The  committee  of  inquiry  were 
informed  that  the  company  ought  not  to  be  punished  for  the  con- 
duct of  some  cf  its  members ;  that  if  there  were  any  causes  of 
complaint,  they  could  only  be  proved  or  explained  by  witnesses  from 
the  colony,  but  as  they  were  at  that  time  sending  them  some  in- 
dispensable additional  supplies  (three  Nonconformist  ministers*) 
any  suspension  of  the  operations  of  the  company  would  be  at- 
tended with  the  most  disastrous  consequences. 

Strange  to  say,  this  reasoning  prevailed  at  the  time  to  defeat 
the  just  claim  of  the  petitioners  for  redress.  The  success  of  this 
deceptive  conduct  astonished  every  body,  and  none  more  than 
the  governor  and  assistants  themselves ;  for  they  were  not  only 
honorably  acquitted,  but  actually  applauded.  They  were  as- 

*  John  Cotton,  Thomas  Hooker,  and  Samuel  Stone. 


48  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

sured  by  the  king's  government  they  might  go  cheerfully  on  with 
their  present  undertaking,  and,  "if  things  were  carried  as  was 
pretended  when  the  charter  icas  granted,  his  majesty  would 
maintain  the  liberties  and  privileges  of  the  company."  Morton 
appealed  from  the  king  in  council  to  the  public.  He  published 
at  Amsterdam  in  1637,  a  work  entitled  "  New  English  Canaan," 
in  which,  with  more  elegance  of  composition  than  was  usual  in 
those  days,  he  ridiculed  the  Separatists  with  a  severity  that  be- 
speaks the  extent  of  the  injury  he  had  sustained  at  their  hands. 
He  is  also  said  to  have  furnished  Butler  with  the  anecdote  he 
has  so  inimitably  told  in  Hudibras,*  of  the  people  of  Plymouth 
having  appeased  the  anger  of  the  Indians  for  a  murder  of  one  of 
their  people  by  hanging  a  bed-ridden  innocent  pauper  instead  of 
the  real  criminal,  who,  besides  being  a  saint,  had  an  additional 
claim  to  their  clemency  from  being  the  only  expert  cordwainer 
in  the  place. 

This  story,  which  has  been  generally  considered  to  have  had 
no  other  foundation  than  the  imagination  of  the  poet,  there  is 
unhappily  some  reason  to  fear  was  but  too  true.  Hubbard,  him- 
eelf  a  Puritan  minister,  living  near  the  scene,  and  old  enough  t 

*  Hudibras,  Part  ii.  Canto  2. 

"  That  sinners  may  supply  the  place 

Of  suffering  saints,  is  a  plain  case, 

Justice  gives  sentence  many  times, 

On  one  man  for  another's  crimes ; 

Our  brethren  of  New  England  use 

Choice  malefactors  to  excuse, 

And  hang  the  guiltless  in  their  stead, 

Of  whom  the  Churches  have  less  need, 

As  lately  't  happened :  In  a  town 

There  lived  a  cobbler,  and  but  one, 

That  out  of  doctrine  could  cut,  use, 

And  mend  men's  lives  as  well  as  shoes. 

This  precious  brother  having  slain, 

In  times  of  peace,  an  Indian, 

The  mighty  Tottipottymoy 

Sent  to  our  Elders  an  envoy, 

Who  called  upon  the  saints  to  render 

Into  his  hands,  or  hang  th'  offender. 

But  they  maturely  having  weighed 

They  had  no  more  but  him  o'  th'  trade, 

Resolv'd  to  spare  him ;  yet,  to  do 

The  Indian,  Hogam  Mogam,  too, 

Impartial  justice,  in  his  stead  did 

Hang  an  old  weaver  that  was  bed-rid." 
t  He  was  born  in  1621. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  49 

to  have  traced  its  authenticity,  has  not  ventured  in  his  history 
of  New  England  to  give  it  an  unqualified  contradiction.  The 
inhabitants  of  Plymouth,  he  says,  tell  the  story  much  otherwise. 
But  if  they  were  driven  by  necessity  to  do  justice  to  content  the 
Indians  at  that  time,  it  is  possible  it  might  be  executed,  not  oa 
him  that  most  deserved,  but  on  him  that  can  best  be  spared,  or 
who  was  not  like  to  live  long  if  he  had  been  let  alone.* 

It  is  almost  incredible  that  with  this  sad  experience  of  their 
persecuting  spirit,  Morton  should  have  ventured  among  them 
again  ;  but  his  perseverance  was  equal  to  their  own,  and  they 
were  amazed  at  beholding  him  there  for  the  third  time.  He 
was  instantly  arrested,  and  a  letter,  written  by  him  from  London 
to  a  friend  in  the  colony,  intercepted  by  the  governor  (in  which 
he  calls  him  "King  Winthrop,"  and  inveighs  against  his  "Am- 
sterdam and  fanatical  ordinances")  was  produced  against  him. 
He  was  forthwith  convicted  of  sedition,  fined  a  hundred  pounds, 
and  banished  again  from  the  colony.  To  console  him  under  his 
afflictions,  he  was  told  he  had  great  reason  to  be  thankful  for 
the  mercy  of  the  court,  as  nothing  but  his  great  age  had  saved 
him  from  the  whipping-post. I  Ratcliffe  became  a  lunatic  from 
the  cruel  treatment  he  received,  and  Sir  Christopher  Gardner 
very  prudently  gave  up  the  contest. 

This  severe  conduct  was  applauded  by  the  ministers,  by  whom 
toleration  was  preached  against  as  a  sin  in  rulers,  that  would 
inevitably  bring  down  the  judgment  of  Heaven  upon  the  land. 
"  He  that  is  mounted  in  the  saddle,"  said  one  of  their  divines, 
"  had  need  keep  the  reins  straight,  unless  he  intends  to  be 
thrown  down  and  trodden  under  foot ;  they  are  the  ministers 
of  God  for  the  good  of  mankind,  and  should  not  bear  the  sword 
in  vain.  "| 

The  power  of  the  clergy  was  irresistible.  At  the  first  Court 
of  Assistants,  an  Act  was  passed  for  building  houses  for  them 
at  the  public  expense,  by  which  they  became  indissolubly  con- 
nected with  the  State.  By  the  operation  of  the  two  laws,  I 
have  already  alluded  to,  namely,  that  no  man  could  be  qualified 

*  Fifth  Vol.  Mass.  Hist.  Coll.    Second  series,  p.  77. 

t  Hutchinson's  History,  vol.  i.  p.  75. 

$  Notice  was  that  year  taken  of  an  impudent  affront  one  Captain  Stone 
offered  to  Mr.  Ludlow,  one  of  the  magistrates,  calling  him  just-ass,  for  justice: 
it  cost  the  offender  one  hundred  pounds  and  banishment.  Hist.  Col.,  vol.  v. 
Second  series,  p.  157. 

c 


50  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

to  vote,  or  be  elected  to  office,  who  was  not  a  Church  mem- 
ber, and  that  no  Church  could  be  formed  but  by  a  license 
from  a  magistrate,  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  were  more 
intimately  combined  than  in  England.  The  granting  or  with- 
holding political  rights  being  thus  centred  in  the  ministers, 
the  leveling  propensity  of  Congregationalism  was  curbed  and 
restrained  by  this  new  power,  and  all  were  compelled  to  sub- 
mit and  pay  court  to  the  very  men  it  was  their  original  in- 
tention to  have  divested  of  all  authority.  Bigotry,  intolerance, 
and  hypocrisy  were  infinitely  increased  and  aggravated  by  this 
extraordinary  alliance.  The  preachers  were  consulted  on  all 
affairs  of  State  and  legislation,  were  often  present  at  the  pass- 
ing of  laws,  and  lent  their  powerful  aid  to  have  them  executed. 

The  attention  of  the  king  was  again  called  to  the  colony  of 
Massachusetts.  He  was  informed  that  there  was  a  great  stream 
of  emigration  flowing  steadily  thither,  of  persons  known  to  be 
ill-affected  to  him,  his  church,  and  government.  An  order 
was  accordingly  issued  by  the  Privy  Council  to  stay  several 
ships  in  the  Thames,  ready  to  sail  to  New  England,  with 
settlers  and  provisions,  for  the  exhibition  of  passenger  lists,  and 
for  the  production  of  the  charter.  This  was  the  first  time  its 
removal  was  discovered  or  avowed,  and  the  plausible  Craddock 
promised  to  send  for  it  immediately.  He  informed  the  council 
that  the  royal  right  was  well  protected  by  the  clause  enforcing 
the  oaths  of  allegiance  and  supremacy  (although  he  knew  they 
had  not  been  administered  to  the  emigrants),  and  entreated 
that  they  who  had  so  recently  and  affectionately  addressed  the 
Church,  as  their  dear  mother,  and  avowed  before  God  and 
man  their  attachment  to  it  at  parting,  should  be  believed  in 
preference  to  their  slanderers,  and  wound  up  with  a  glowing 
description  of  naval  stores  that  the  planters  would  soon  be  able 
to  send  to  England.  After  some  little  delay  they  were  per- 
mitted to  proceed  on  their  voyage,  and  emigration  again  revived. 

In  the  mean  while,  the  inhabitants  having  proceeded  step  by 
step  to  consolidate  their  power  at  Boston,  in  evasion  or  defiance 
of  the  charter,  now  altered  their  constitution  in  a  manner  to 
suit  the  exigencies  of  the  times,  and  their  own  wants,  without 
asking  permission  or  seeking  authority  from  the  king.  In  conse- 
quence of  some  severe  regulations  made  by  the  magistrates  relative 
to  trespasses,  which  were  exceedingly  unpopular  in  the  rural  dis- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  51 

tncts,  two  delegates  chosen  by  each  town  assembled  at  Boston  and 
demanded  a  sight  of  the  charter,  upon  the  examination  of  which 
they  arrived  at  the  conclusion,  that  the  legislative  authority 
rested  not  with  the  magistrates,  but  with  the  freemen.  On  this 
point  they  asked  the  opinion  of  the  governor,  who  told  them, 
that  when  the  patent  was  issued,  it  was  supposed  the  freemen 
would  be  so  few,  that  all  could  conveniently  assemble,  but  now 
they  had  become  too  numerous  to  meet  for  deliberation.  At  the 
same  time  he  said,  he  was  of  opinion,  they  did  not  yet  contain 
sufficient  materials  to  constitute  a  distinct  branch  of  the  Legis- 
lature, but  proposed  that  a  certain  number  of  delegates  should 
be  chosen  annually  to  prefer  grievances,  but  not  to  make  laws  ; 
though  their  consent  perhaps  might  be  required  to  all  assess- 
ments of  money  and  grants  of  land.  They  were  not  satisfied 
with  any  such  restricted  power,  and  accordingly  at  a  General 
Court,  held  in  the  year  1634,  twenty-four  of  the  principal  in 
habitants  of  the  colony,  presented  themselves  as  the  represent- 
atives of  the  body  of  freemen,  and  demanded  on  behalf  of  theii 
constituents  the  right  to  share  in  all  legislative  proceedings  of 
that  body,  a  claim  which,  though  it  had  no  foundation  whatevei 
in  the  charter,  was  supported  by  analogy  to  the  constitution  of 
the  mother  country,  and  was  too  congenial  to  their  own  demo- 
cratic views  to  be  refused.  The  governor  and  assistants,  how- 
ever, were  not  prepared  for  what  followed.  They  were  aware 
that  a  House  of  Commons  would  naturally  diminish  much  of 
their  own  weight  and  influence,  but  they  were  astonished  to 
find,  when  their  admission  was  conceded,  that  their  first  step, 
before  proceeding  to  business,  was  to  define  the  power  and  juris- 
diction of  the  General  Court  in  its  amended  form  ;  and  in  that 
definition,  to  appropriate  to  themselves  a  full  share  of  executive 
as  well  as  legislative  authority.  Hitherto,  although  the  govern- 
ment had  been  elective,  the  choice  of  officers  had  usually  fallen 
upon  the  same  persons.  Mr*  Winthrop  had  been  appointed 
governor  every  year  since  the  foundation  of  the  commonwealth, 
and  most  of  the  assistants  had  also  been  re-elected.  As  judges 
and  justices  they  were  the  dignitaries  of  the  land.  Their  dis- 
cretionary power,  in  the  absence  of  a  regular  code  of  laws,  was 
very  great.  Severe  penalties  were  enacted  for  disobeying  them, 
and  still  heavier  punishments  awarded  for  discourteous  or  con- 
tumelious behavior  toward  them.  Democracy,  however,  is  no 


fl'<2  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

respecter  of  persons.  Where  all  authority  emanates  from  the 
mass,  all  must  finally  bow  to  that  source  of  power.  The  natural 
order  of  society  is  soon  reversed :  officials  first  become  courtiers  to 
the  people,  and  then  are  degraded  to  a  menial  dependence  on 
their  masters.  This  universal  law  of  politics  was  now  made 
palpable  to  the  founders  of  the  republic. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  representatives  was  to  impose  a  fine 
on  the  Court  of  Assistants  for  having  presumed,  during  the  pre- 
ceding year,  in  the  exercise  of  their  discretion,  not  to  act  in  con- 
formity to  an  order  of  the  General  Court.  The  governor,  a 
most  able,  zealous,  liberal  and  laborious  officer,  who  had  dis- 
charged all  the  gubernatorial  duties  gratuitously  for  several  years, 
was  quietly  passed  over  without  any  reason  whatever  that  can  be 
discovered,  beyond  the  vile  and  contemptible  propensity  of  demo- 
crats to  humble  and  degrade  to  their  own  vulgar  level  all  that 
are  distinguished  among  them  for  character  or  talent.  Not  con- 
tent with  this  unprovoked  and  unmerited  insult,  he  was  coarsely 
interrogated  as  to  the  receipts  and  disbursement  of  the  public 
money  during  his  administration,  as  if  he  had  been  a  defaulter, 
and  enriched  himself  with  the  spoils,  instead  of  exhausting  his 
means,  and  impoverishing  his  family,  by  private  charities  and 
public  benefactions,  as  was  well  known  to  be  the  case.  'At  the 
termination  of  this  ungrateful  and  humiliating  proceeding,  he 
handed  in  the  following  dignified  and  temperate  protest : 

"  In  all  these  things  which  I  offer,  I  refer  myself  to  the  wisdom 
and  justice  of  the  court,  with  this  protestation,  that  it  repenteth 
me  not  of  my  cost  or  labor  bestowed  on  this  commonwealth,  but 
do  heartily  bless  the  Lord  our  God  that  He  hath  pleased  to 
honor  me  so  far  as  to  call  for  any  thing  He  hath  bestowed  upon 
me  for  the  service  of  His  Church  and  people  here  :  the  prosperity 
whereof  and  His  gracious  acceptance,  shall  be  an  abundant 
recompense  to  me.  I  conclude  with  this  one  request  (which  in 
justice  may  not  be  denied  me),  that  as  it  stands  upon  record,  that 
upon  the  discharge  of  my  office  I  was  called  to  account,  so  this 
my  declaration  may  be  recorded  also,  lest  hereafter,  when  1  shall 
be  forgotten,  some  blemish  may  lie  upon  my  posterity,  when 
there  shall  be  nothing  to  clear  it. 

"JOHN  WlNTHROP. 
"  September  4th,  1634." 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  53 

It  is  a  painful,  but  instructive  page  of  history.  The  colony 
was  founded  by  Mr.  Winthrop,  in  a  spirit  of  defection  to  his 
Sovereign  and  his  Church.  The  first  act  of  the  Legislature,  a 
child  of  his  own  creation,  was  a  rejection  of  himself  as  their 
governor,  the  imposition  of  a  fine  and  censure  upon  his  Court  of 
Assistants,  and  an  accusation  against  both,  having  as  little  founda- 
tion in  truth  as  those  he  had  himself  so  lightly  adopted,  and  so 
little  examined,  against  his  king  and  his  primate. 

The  establishment  of  a  representative  body  was  a  bold  exercise 
of  independence,  but  it  completed  and  consolidated  the  power  of 
the  state,  which  being  based  altogether  on  the  elective  system, 
was  purely  republican.  This  innovation  created  an  inquiry  into 
the  nature  of  the  liberty  and  privileges  of  the  people,  which 
threatened  to  convulse  the  colony  by  the  numerous  abstract 
questions  to  which  it  gave  rise.  Among  others  was  a  dispute  as 
to  the  veto  of  the  Assistants,  both  as  regarded  its  existence  and 
its  limits.  A  number  of  persons  having  memorialized  the  court 
for  leave  to  remove  out  of  the  jurisdiction,  the  Assistants  refused 
their  assent,  assigning,  among  other  reasons,  one  that  in  modern 
times  would  expose  them  to  much  sectarian  abuse.  "  The  re- 
moval of  a  candlestick,"  they  said,  "  is  a  great  judgment,  which 
ought  to  be  avoided."  By  far  the  greater  part  of  the  delegates 
were  for  granting  the  prayer  of  the  petitioners,  and  numerically 
they  formed  a  majority  of  the  whole  court.  The  dispute  on  this 
contested  point  was  very  warm,  and  the  session  was  adjourned. 
What  they  refused  to  grant  to  the  assumptions  of  the  magistrates, 
they  yielded  to  the  fervid  eloquence  of  Mr.  Cotton,  who  preached 
before  them,  when  they  reassembled  ;  "  for  it  pleased  the  Lord  so 
to  assist  him,  and  to  bless  His  own  ordinances  that  the  affairs  of 
the  court  went  on  cheerfully." 

At  this  time  was  first  introduced  the  custom,  now  so  prevalent 
in  America  and  the  British  provinces,  of  paying  the  members  of 
the  Legislature.  It  was  ordered  that  the  charge  of  dieting  the 
assistants  and  delegates  during  the  General  Court  be  paid  out  of 
the  public  treasury.  About  the  same  period  the  vote  by  ballot 
for  the  delegates  was  established.  The  aid  of  the  minister,  and 
some  of  the  ablest  men  in  the  province  was  now  requested,  to 
compile  a  uniform  order  of  discipline  for  all  the  churches  in  the 
colony. 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  Commission  issues  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  eleven  other  Persoas, 
for  governing  the  Colonies,  &c. — Abbot  and  Laud,  their  Conduct  contrasted— 
Severe  Trials  of  the  Church — Its  Character  and  Conduct — Colonists  assume  the 
Right  of  making  Treaties — Free-Trade  with  the  Narragansetts — Offer  of 
hereditary  Rank  made  by  Lord  Say  and  Sele — Reasons  for  declining  it — 
Petition  of  the  People  debarred  of  civil  Rights  for  Nonconformity — They  are 
summoned  to  appear  before  the  Governor  and  Assistants,  and  denounced  by 
the  Ministers — Heavily  fined  and  bound  over  to  keep  the  Peace — Their  private 
Papers  selrched,  and  a  Memorial  found  addressed  to  the  Earl  of  Warwick — 
Its  Contents — The  People  extend  their  Jurisdiction  to  Wethersfield,  situated 
beyond  the  Limits  of  Massachusetts — Justification  of  Encroachment — Gorton's 
Settlement  broken  up,  and  his  Followers  severely  punished — The  Grand 
Council  of  Plymouth  surrenders  its  Charter  on  the  Ground  of  the  Colonists 
claiming  Independence — A  quo  learranto  ordered  to  be  issued  for  the  Rev- 
ocation of  the  Charter — Sir  Ferdinando  Georges  nominated  Governor- General 
— The  Ministers  convened  to  advise — They  recommend  Resistance — Dis- 
senters from  the  Churches  of  Massachusetts  settle  at  Connecticut,  Rhode 
Island,  and  other  Places — War  with  the  Pequods — The  Army  under  a  Cove- 
nant of  Works — Extermination  of  the  Indian  Tribe — Troubles  in  England — 
The  Colony  is  left  unmolested. 

IN  England  great  astonishment  was  expressed  at  this  usurpa- 
tion, which  naturally  drew  attention  also  to  the  artful  manner 
Episcopalians  were  excluded,  if  not  from  the  country,  at  least 
from  all  participation  in  its  government.  A  royal  commission, 
therefore,  was  granted  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and 
eleven  other  persons,  for  the  management  of  colonial  affairs,  con- 
ferring or  revoking  patents,  appointing  public  officers,  and  other 
more  extensive  powers.  The  recital  reasserts,  in  distinct  terms, 
that  the  object  of  the  king,  in  granting  the  charter,  "  was  not 
merely  to  enlarge  the  territories  of  our  empire,  but  more  especially 
to  propagate  the  Gospel  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ." 

The  contumacy  and  intractability  of  the  Puritans  at  home 
increased  the  alarm  that  was  felt  at  the  extension  of  the  sect  in 
America.  Every  means  had  been  tried  and  exhausted  for  recon- 
ciling or  conciliating  them,  but  in  vain.  Concessions  led  to 
further  demands,  kindness  only  served  to  infuse  a  belief  of  weak- 
ness ;  and,  in  the  exasperated  state  of  public  feeling,  nothing 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  55 

appeared  to  be  left  but  compulsion.  The  indulgence  of  Abbot 
rather  emboldened  their  opposition,  as  they  affected  to  see  in  his 
mildness  or  negligence  a  similarity  of  opinions  with  their  own. 
Laud,  warned  by  the  failure  of  his  predecessor,  was  more  vigilant 
and  more  rigid,  and  endeavored  to  compel  these  refractory  Non- 
conformists to  obedience  by  a  strict  enforcement  of  the  law,  in 
the  execution  of  which  he  showed  himself  as  zealous,  active,  and 
almost  as  severe  as  the  Puritans  themselves.  These  people  ex- 
hibited the  most  melancholy  specimen  of  the  arrogance,  obstinacy, 
and  inconsistency  of  the  human  mind  to  be  found  in  any  age  or 
country.  At  the  very  time  that  they  were  depriving  every  per- 
son in  Massachusetts  of  all  civil  rights,  who  was  not  in  full 
communion  with  them,  or  imprisoning,  fining,  or  banishing  who- 
ever dared  to  maintain  doctrines  at  variance  with  their  own, 
they  denounced  as  a  bigot  and  a  demon  the  archbishop,  who, 
unfortunately,  adopted  the  same  error  of  compulsory  conversion 
as  themselves. 

It  was  not  without  great  aLrm,  therefore,  they  were  informed 
that  a  quo  icarranto  had  been  issued  against  them,  and  that  the 
governor  was  ordered  by  the  Board  forthwith  to  send  back  to 
England  the  charter  which  had  been  so  surreptitiously  removed. 
They  had  now  a  man  to  deal  with  who  knew  their  principles  too 
well  to  be  duped  by  professions,  whose  duty  it  was  to  protect  his 
own  Church,  and  to  see  that  no  part  of  his  majesty's  dominions 
was  closed  against  her  members,  and  who  had  penetrated  the 
designs  of  their  co-religionists  to  subvert  the  monarchy.  From 
his  well-known  integrity  and  piety  they  knew  that  they  might 
look  for  justice;  but  they  saw  nothing  in  the  contumely  and  in- 
sults they  had  heaped  upon  him  to  lead  them  to  hope  that  he 
would  make  another  fruitless  attempt  to  try  the  effect  of  in- 
dulgence. 

The  conduct  of  these  two  prelates,  Abbot  and  Laud,  has  been 
variously  viewed,  both  by  contemporary  authors  and  historians 
of  the  present  day,  according  to  the  uncertain  standard  of  their 
own  morals  and  politics.  By  some  the  moderation  or  connivance 
of  the  first  has  been  extolled  as  an  example  of  Christian  virtue, 
worthy  of  all  praise ;  while  a  rigid  adherence  to  ecclesiastical 
discipline,  and  a  strict  observance  of  the  law  of  the  land,  has 
earned  for  the  other  a  character  for  cruelty  and  tyranny.  But 
the  agitated  state  of  the  times,  the  fury  of  party,  the  ferocity  and 


56  THE  ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

disloyalty  of  schismatics,  and  the  intrigues  of  an  unscrupulous 
Court,  if  they  do  not  afford  a  justification  for  the  negligence  of 
the  one,  or  the  rigor  of  the  other,  will  warrant  us  in  putting  a 
charitable  construction  on  the  conduct  of  both.  Where  the  shel- 
ter of  non-interference  merely  aggravated  the  evil,  it  was  natural 
to  try  the  only  other  alternative,  severity  ;  and  subsequent  events 
have  now  clearly  disclosed  to  us  that  the  middle  course,  in  which 
justice  is  tempered  with  mercy,  so  difficult  at  all  times  to  be 
found,  and  especially  in  civil  commotions,  would  have  been 
equally  unavailing.  It  is  probable,  however,  that  if  Abbot  had 
been  more  firm,  Laud  would  have  been  less  severe ;  and  it  is 
certain  that  a  proper  discharge  of  his  duty,  without  periling  his 
own  life,  would  have  saved  that  of  his  martyred  successor. 

No  religious  establishment  has  had  so  much  to  contend  against 
as  the  Anglican  Church.  For  centuries  before  the  Reformation 
she  had  to  endure  the  assaults  of  Rome,  and  ever  since  the 
furious  attacks  of  fanatics ;  while  lately  she  has  had  to  with- 
stand them  both,  under  the  serious  disadvantage  of  being  crippled 
by  the  State,  in  the  freedom  of  her  actions.  Formerly,  the 
government,  to  suit  their  own  political  views,  found  it  necessary 
to  fill  the  bench  of  Bishops  with  persons  holding  high  prerogative 
opinions.  In  more  recent  times  the  selection  for  a  similar  pur- 
pose has  been  too  often  made  from  latitudinarians,  while  during 
the  whole  period  of  time,  she  has  had  within  her  own  pale  a 
numerous  party  who  receive  her  pay,  and  eat  her  bread,  but 
refuse  to  do  her  bidding,  or  teach  her  doctrines.  Deprived  of 
her  convocation,  she  has  been  powerless  to  preserve  uniformity, 
defend  herself,  or  enforce  her  discipline,  and,  above  all,  to  exert 
her  whole  voice  in  demanding  her  ancient  right  of  electing  her 
own  prelates.  Hence  the  soundness  of  one  diocese  contrasts 
strangely  with  the  license  and  disorder  of  another,  and  ths 
anomalous  appeals  in  matters  of  belief  to  a  lay  court,  evince  less 
unity  than  Rome,  and  less  independence  than  Dissent. 

During  all  these  afflictions  her  conduct  has  been  worthy  of 
herself.  Her  firmness  in  resisting  encroachments,  and  patience 
under  persecutions,  moderation  in  prosperity,  devotion  to  the 
cause  of  truth  and  learning,  her  zeal  and  munificence  in  propa- 
gating the  Gospel  to  the  furthermost  parts  of  the  earth,  are  well 
attested  by  the  fruit  she  has  borne.  Her  sterling  worth  is 
stamped  on  her  children,  and  an  .Englishman  may  well  be  proud 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  57 

of  the  parent  that  instructed  his  tender  years,  and  implanted  in 
his  mind  all  those  virtues  that  invigorate,  and  those  graces  that 
adorn  his  character.  While  the  Puritan  preachers  of  Massa- 
chusetts were  occupied  in  compiling  a  body  of  laws,  and  a  code 
of  divinity,  the  Parliament  of  the  colony  entered  at  once  upon 
the  exercise  of  unrestricted  sovereign  power,  and  authorized  or 
sanctioned  the  assumption  by  the  executive  of  the  right  to  make 
war,  or  declare  treaties  of  peace,  with  the  surrounding  Indian 
nations.  The  Narragansetts,  a  powerful  and  numerous  tribe, 
were  among  the  first  to  enter  into  offensive  and  defensive  alliance 
with  them.  Some  of  the  stipulations  of  this  compact  have  since 
been  adopted  by  the  diplomatists  of  modern  times,*  and  the  sur- 
render of  fugitives  from  justice,  and  unrestrained  free-trade, 
though  apparently  equally  beneficial  to  both  from  their  reciprocal 
character,  concealed,  under  specious  terms,  the  selfishness  that 
dictated  them ;  for  the  grave  offered  to  the  savage  an  asylum 
infinitely  preferable  to  the  abodes  of  the  white  man,  and  free- 
trade  was  only  beneficial  to  those  who  desired  the  advantage  of 
tempting  the  cupidity,  or  overreaching  the  simplicity  of  their 
customers,  by  giving  them  in  exchange  for  their  furs,  superfluities, 
of  the  value  or  use  of  which  they  were  equally  ignorant.  A  few 
years  afterward  an  army  was  raised  to  proceed  against  these 
same  allies,  who  had  subsequently  become  refractory  and  turbu 
lent ;  but  so  imposing  a  force  awed  them  into  submission,  and  a 
renewal  of  commercial  intercourse. 

In  this  democratic  body  the  companies  usually  chose  their  own 
officers,  and  the  executive  contented  itself  with  appointing  a 
commander-in-chief  to  direct  its  operations.  The  commonwealth 
then,  as  at  the  present  day,  was  substituted  for  the  royal  author- 
ity ;  and  the  revolution  of  1783,  instead  of  destroying  old  institu- 

*  The  following  is  the  treaty  alluded  to : 

1.  A  firm  and  perpetual  peace  betwixt  them  and  the  English. 

2.  Neither  party  to  make  peace  with  the  Pequods  without  the  consent  of  the 
other. 

3.  That  Narragansetts  should  not  harbor  any  Pequods. 

4.  That  they  should  put  to  death,  or  deliver  up  any  murderers  of  the  English. 

5.  That  they  should  return  fugitive  servants. 

6.  The  English  to  give  them  notice  when  to  go  out  against  the  Pequods,  and 
the  Narragansetts  to  furnish  guides. 

7.  Free-trade  to  be  carried  on  between  the  parties. 

8.  None  of  the  Narragansetts  to  come  near  the  English  plantations  during  the 
war  with  the  Pequods,  without  some  Englishman  or  Indian  known  to  the  En- 
glish.— Hutch.,  vol.  i.  p.  591. 

C" 


58  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

tions,  was  conservative  in  its  character,  and  merely  restored  the 
ancient  order  of  things.  The  spirit  of  independence  and  equality 
was  as  deeply  rooted  then  as  now  in  Massachusetts,  and  an 
offer  of  hereditary  rank,  when  tendered  to  the  principal  inhabit- 
ants by  Lord  Say  and  Sele,  if  they  would  join  him  in  colonizing 
the  Bahamas,  was  peremptorily  and  decidedly  refused.  Hered- 
itary authority,  they  said,  had  no  warrant  in  Scripture,  and  any 
civil  power  whatever,  not  based  on  church  membership,  was 
equally  repugnant  to  the  will  of  God.  They  assured  his  lordship 
that  it  was  their  conscientious  conviction,  that  it  was  "  a  divine 
ordinance  (and  moral)  that  none  should  be  appointed  and  chosen 
by  the  people  of  God,  magistrates  over  them,  but  men  fearing 
God,*  chosen  out  of  their  brethren,!  Saints. J  That  the  Apostle 
maketh  it  a  shame  to  the  Church,  if  it  be  not  able  to  afford  wise 
men  from  out  of  themselves,  which  shall  be  able  to  judge  all 
civil  matters  between  their  brethren. §  And  Solomon  maketh  it 
the  joy  of  a  commonwealth  when  the  righteous  are  in  authority, 
and  the  calamity  thereof  when  the  wicked  bear  rule.  || 

It  was  not  to  be  supposed,  however,  that  this  exclusive  claim 
of  the  Church,  to  confine  all  affairs  of  trust  and  emolument  to  its 
own  members,  would  be  submitted  to  without  a  struggle,  by 
those  who  were  debarred  of  the  right  of  becoming  freemen  under 
the  terms  of  the  charter.  The  object  of  it  was  well  known  to 
have  been  to  discourage  Episcopalians  from  settling  in  the  State, 
and  to  preserve  the  ascendency  of  the  Puritans;  but  as  it  did 
not  answer  the  purpose  as  fully  or  as  promptly  as  was  expected, 
another  Act  was  passed  of  a  more  stringent  nature.  A  penalty 
was  laid  upon  all  persons  who  should  entertain  in  their  houses  a 
stranger  who  came  with  an  intent  to  reside  in  the  colony,  or 
should  allow  him  the  use  of  any  habitation,  or  lot  of  land,  for  a 
longer  period  than  three  weeks,  without  permission  from  the 
magistrates.  The  fine  on  individuals  was  twenty  pounds,  and  a 
like  sum  for  every  month  that  the  offense  was  persisted  in.  One 
hundred  pounds  was  also  imposed  upon  any  town,  for  either 
giving  or  selling  land  to  any  such  unlicensed  person. 

Under  the  pretense  of  guarding  their  chartered  rights,  and 
preserving  the  purity  of  their  religion  and  morals,  they  thus  man- 
aged to  introduce  laws  that  effectually  converted  those  who  pro- 

*  Exodus  xviii.  21.  t  Deut.  xvii.  15.  f  1  Cor.  vi.  1. 

$  1  Cor.  vi.  1.  ||  Prov.  xxix.  2. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  59 

fessed  any  other  creed  than  their  own  into  aliens,  and  rendered 
them  liable  to  all  the  disabilities  and  all  the  inconvenience  of 
being  subjects  of  a  foreign  realm.  Obstinacy  is  not  confined  to 
any  class  or  sect,  but  is  a  peculiarity  of  our  national  character  ; 
and  if  the  Puritans  had  the  courage  to  claim  the  country  as  their 
own,  and  disregard  or  deny  the  supremacy  of  the  parent  state, 
there  were  not  wanting  those  who  questioned  their  right,  and 
were  determined,  at  all  hazards,  to  demand  an  equal  share  of  the 
privileges  and  advantages  conferred  upon  all  by  the  patent. 
Among  these  were  several  persons  of  character  and  property, 
who,  as  a  preliminary  step,  petitioned  the  General  Court,  or  local 
assembly.  In  their  memorial,  which  was  couched  in  firm  but 
respectful  language,  they  complained  :  1st.  That  the  funda- 
mental laws  of  England  were  not  owned  by  the  colony,  as  the 
basis  of  their  government,  according  to  the  charter.  2d.  The 
denial  of  those  civil  privileges  which  the  freemen  of  the  jurisdic- 
tion enjoyed,  to  such  as  were  not  members  of  churches,  and  did 
not  take  an  oath  of  fidelity,  devised  by  the  local  authority,  al- 
though they  were  free-born  Englishmen  of  sober  lives,  conversa- 
tion, &c.  3d.  That  they  were  debarred  from  Christian  privi- 
leges, viz.,  the  Lord's  Supper  for  themselves,  and  baptism  for 
their  children,  unless  they  were  members  of  some  of  the  partic- 
ular churches  in  the  country,  though  otherwise  sober,  righteous, 
and  godly,  and  eminent  for  knowledge,  not  scandalous  in  life  and 
conversation,  and  members  of  churches  in  England. 

They  prayed  that  civil  liberty  and  freedom  might  forthwith  be 
granted  the  inhabitants,  and  that  all  members  of  the  Church  of 
England  or  Scotland,  not  scandalous,  might  be  admitted  to  the 
privileges  of  the  churches  of  New  England,  or,  if  these  civil  and 
religious  liberties  were  refused,  that  they  might  be  freed  from  the 
heavy  taxes  imposed  upon  them,  and  from  the  impresses  made  of 
them,  their  children,  or  servants  in  the  wars. 

They  further  stated  that  if  they  failed  of  redress,  they  should 
be  under  the  necessity  of  making  application  to  Parliament,  who 
they  hoped  would  take  their  sad  condition  into  consideration,  pro- 
vide able  ministers  for  them,  New  England  having  none  such  to 
spare,  or  else  transport  them  to  some  other  place,  their  estates 
being  wasted,  where  they  may  live  like  Christians. 

Such  a  bold  and  decisive  measure  at  once  awakened  the  fears 
of  the  governor,  and  aroused  the  anger  of  the  clergy.  The  former 


60  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

summoned  them  to  appear  and  answer  for  this  contumacious  con- 
duct, at  the  bar  of  the  court  ;  the  latter,  with  their  usual  zeal 
and  intolerance,  invoked  the  judgment  of  God  upon  the  malig- 
nants,  who  dared  to  impugn  the  saints,  and  threatened  to  slan- 
der the  elect  hy  appealing  to  an  English  tribunal,  the  mem- 
bers of  which  were  under  a  covenant  of  works.  The  inveteracy 
of  both  justified  the  proceedings  of  the  petitioners,  and  confirmed 
them  in  the  course  they  had  resolved  to  pursue.  The  thunders 
of  the  pulpit  and  the  threats  of  the  executive,  though  not  equally 
formidable,  were  both  sufficient  to  terrify  men  of  ordinary  nerves. 
The  denunciations  of  the  ministers  were  equivalent  to  excommu- 
nication among  a  people  who  believed  that  salvation  was  not  to 
be  obtained  beyond  the  pale  of  Puritanism  ;  and  the  frowns  of  a 
court  that  held  irresponsible  power  over  life  and  property,  and 
believed  it  was  doing  God  service  in  freely  exercising  it,  were  not 
to  be  encountered  without  terror.  Instead  of  receiving  redress, 
they  were  required  to  answer  for  their  own  conduct.  They 
humbly  submitted  that  they  had  preferred  no  charges,  but  had 
merely  solicited  a  change,  and  requested  a  reform.  The  right  to 
petition  was  freely  conceded,  with  a  mildness  and  meekness  that 
did  honor  to  their  Christian  humility  ;  but  they  were  informed 
with  great  sternness  that  they  had  exceeded  the  bounds  of  that 
invaluable  privilege,  and  endangered  the  liberty  of  the  people  by 
a  licentious  use  of  a  constitutional  right,  and  were  accordingly 
heavily  fined  in  proportion  to  their  ability.  They  then  claimed 
an  appeal  to  the  Commissioners  for  plantations,  but  they  were 
told  that  was  an  aggravation  of  their  offense,  inasmuch  as  it  had 
a  tendency  to  lower  the  character  of  the  court  among  the  people, 
and  were  therefore  ordered  to  find  securities  for  their  future  good 
behavior. 

To  submit  to  authority  is  the  duty  of  all  good  subjects  ;  but  to 
obey  without  a  murmur,  when  it  is  abused,  is  more  than  can  be 
expected  from  the  infirmity  of  human  nature.  In  the  irritation 
of  the  moment,  some  of  the  petitioners  announced  their  intention 
of  proceeding  to  England,  to  lay  their  complaint  before  the  Im- 
perial Government.  This  fresh  offense  called  for  further  coercive 
measures,  and  a  search-warrant  was  issued  to  seize  and  examine 
their  private  papers.  A  memorial  was  found  addressed  to  the 
Earl  of  Warwick  and  the  other  members  of  the  board,  signed  by 
twenty-three  non-freemen  for  themselves  and  many  thousand 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  61 

more,*  in  which  they  stated,  that  from  the  pulpit  they  had  heen 
reproached,  and  branded  with  the  names  of  destroyers  of  churches 
and  commonwealths,  called  Hamans,  Judases,  sons  of  Korah, 
&c.,  and  the  Lord  entreated  to  confound  them,  and  the  people 
and  magistrates  stirred  up  against  them,  by  those  who  were  too 
forward  to  step  out  of  their  callings ;  in  consequence  of  which 
some  of  them  had  even  been  committed  for  refusing  to  give  bonds 
for  two  hundred  pounds,  to  abide  by  the  sentence  of  the  court ; 
when  all  their  crime  was  to  petition,  and  they  had  publicly  been 
treated  as  malefactors,  &c.  They  then  proceed  to  pray  : 

1.  For  settled  churches  in  Massachusetts  according  to  the 
Reformation  of  England. 

2.  That  the  laws  of  England  may  be  established. 

3.  That  all  English  freeholders  may  enjoy  such  privileges  as 
in  England,  and  the  other  plantations. 

4.  That  a  general  governor,  or  some  commissioners  may  be 
appointed,  &c. 

5.  That  the  oath  of  allegiance  may  be  taken  by  all,  and  other 
covenants  which  the  Parliament  shall  think  most  convenient. 

To  this  petition  were  appended  certain  queries  : 

Whether  the  patent  of  Massachusetts  was  confirmed  by  Par- 
liament, and  whether  it  was  not  necessary  it  should  be  ? 

Whether  the  court  may  forfeit  their  charter,  &c.  ? 

Whether,  if  treason  be  uttered  in  the  pulpit,  or  in  the  court 
and  not  questioned,  the  court  do  not  consent,  &c.  ? 

Whether  it  be  not  high-treason,  as  well  in  New  England  as 
in  Ireland,  to  endeavor  to  subvert  the  fundamental  laws  of  En- 
gland, to  take  away  the  liberties  of  the  English  nation,  to  say 
that  Massachusetts  is  a  free  state,  &c.  ? 

Whether  the  oath  of  allegiance  and  the  covenant  be  not  bind- 
ing there  ? 

Whether  all  English  inhabitants  having  lands,  are  not  free- 


men : 

Whether  the  court  hath  power  to  confine  to  prison,  banish, 
impose  censures,  impress  persons  and  goods  for  an  offensive 
war,  &c.  ? 

Whether  the  ministers  may  publicly  vilify  the  English  nation, 
laws,  &c. ;  and  not  be  questioned  ? 

*  It  is  probable  that  the  words  "many  thousand  more,"  are  about  as  accurate 
as  numbers,  when  spoken  of  in  petitions,  usually  are. 


62  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

Whether  the  petitioners  ought  to  be  hindered  settling  in  a 
church  way,  according  to  the  churches  in  England,  &c.  ? 

Good  behavior  is  a  term  of  extensive  signification,  and  at  that 
period  petitioning  Parliament,  whose  jurisdiction  was  not  admit- 
ted, was  evidently  a  violation  of  the  duty  of  an  obedient  subject. 
The  fine  which  had  already  been  exacted  from  them,  and  the 
dread  of  forfeiting  the  bonds  into  which  they  had  entered,  de- 
terred them  from  further  prosecuting  their  appeal  until  a  more 
favorable  opportunity.  Resistance  to  constituted  authority,  when 
effectually  defeated,  necessarily  strengthens  the  government  it 
was  designed  to  overthrow ;  and  one  successful  exercise  of  ar- 
bitrary power  naturally  leads  to  another.  Having  repeatedly 
stifled  remonstrance  within,  they  could  not  endure  open  defiance 
without  their  borders.  Several  of  the  inhabitants  having  re- 
moved to  Wethersfield,  a  place  beyond  the  limits  of  Massachu- 
setts, it  was  deemed  prudent  to  assume  jurisdiction,  in  order  to 
avoid  the  contamination  of  bad  neighbors.  At  first  some  scru- 
ples were  entertained  as  to  the  legality  of  thus  appropriating  ter- 
ritory to  themselves,  to  which  they  admitted  they  had  no  right, 
but  a  little  reflection  soon  enabled  them  to  overcome  this  diffi- 
culty. It  was  thought  advisable,  if  any  objection  should  here- 
after be  made  by  England  to  this  presumptuous  assumption  oi 
power,  to  apply  to  her  her  own  reasoning  on  the  subject  of  fealty, 
by  which  they  would  have  the  advantage  of  both  sides  of  the  ar- 
gument. When  they  left  the  mother  country,  they  maintained 
that  allegiance  was  local  and  not  general,  obedience  and  protec- 
tion being  reciprocal ;  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  crown  law- 
yers held  that  a  man  never  could  divest  himself  of  this  obliga- 
tion, which  accompanied  him  to  the  most  remote  parts  of  the 
earth.  Now  protesting  in  their  own  case  against  this  doctrine 
of  the  English  jurists,  still  it  was  fair,  they  said,  to  apply  it  to 
those  who  believed  it,  for  no  one  can  be  injured  by  submitting  to 
a  law  which  he  attempts  to  force  on  others,  and  which  he  asserts 
to  be  obligatory  on  all.  Assuming,  therefore,  that  the  emigrants 
who  had  been  inhabitants  of  the  colony,  and  had  taken  the 
oath  of  fidelity  to  the  commonwealth,  were  still  bound  by  it, 
though  not  residing  within  its  limits,  it  was  but  right  and 
proper,  that  the  State  should  on  its  part  extend  to  them  its 
protection  and  support.  They  accordingly  very  quietly  and 
complacently  assumed  jurisdiction  over  the  country,  and  issued 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  63 

the  necessary  commissions  for  its  government  and  internal  man- 
agement. 

The  Puritans,  who  were  subtle  casuists,  having  authorized  a 
forcible  entry  into  land  that  did  not  belong  to  them,  and  thus 
enlarged  their  limits,  soon  found  arguments  for  a  similar  exten- 
sion, by  seizing  upon  the  possession  of  others  on  the  ground  that 
they  were  intruders  on  the  heritage  of  the  Lord.  A  number  of 
persons,  among  whom  was  an  obnoxious  schismatic  called  Gorton, 
holding  different  religious  opinions  from  themselves,  and  disliking 
the  tyrannical  form  of  government  at  Massachusetts,  purchased 
lands  from  the  Indians,  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  colony,  and 
commenced  a  settlement,  where  they  hoped  to  enjoy  unrestricted 
liberty  of  conscience.  Possessing  and  enjoying,  though  usually 
coupled  together,  are  by  no  means  synonymous  terms.  Fanaticism 
is  seldom  enjoyed,  but  amidst  opposition  or  in  the  face  of  danger. 
When  unnoticed,  it  becomes  torpid,  and'  expires  for  want  of  suf- 
ficient excitement  to  preserve  vitality.  It  is  generally  a  compound 
of  ignorance  and  vanity ;  one  fades  from  view  in  the  light  of 
knowledge,  and  neglect  is  a  sure  and  certain  specific  for  the  other. 

The  Government  were  not  willing  to  await  the  natural  death 
of  this  ephemeral  heresy.  It  was  deemed  necessary  to  crush  it 
in  its  infancy.  The  limits  of  the  State  to  which  they  had  ad- 
hered with  such  pertinacity  when  threatened  with  encroachment, 
proved  no  protection  to  those  who  lived  beyond  them.  A  party 
was  sent  against  the  emigrants,  who  carried  them  all  prisoners 
to  Boston,  drove  off  their  cattle,  which  they  sold  to  pay  the  ex- 
pense of  the  expedition,  and  effectually  destroyed  the  settlement. 
When  brought  before  the  court,  it  was  in  vain  the  captives 
pleaded  to  its  jurisdiction,  and  maintained  that  not  being  in- 
habitants of  Massachusetts,  they  were  not  amenable  to  its  au- 
thority. The  justices  informed  them  that  they  had  violated  the 
Divine  law,  though  they  did  not  condescend  to  produce  the  com- 
mission that  authorized  them  to  punish  its  infraction  ;  they  con- 
tented themselves  with  ordering  them  to  plead  instanter  to  the 
following  extraordinary  accusation :  "  Upon  much  examination, 
and  serious  consideration  of  your  writings,  we  do  charge  you  to  be 
a  blasphemous  enemy  of  the  true  religion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ, 
and  His  holy  ordinances,  also  of  civil  authority  among  the  people 
of  God,  and  particularly  in  this  jurisdiction." 

They  were  all  found  guilty,  and  sentenced  to  be  dispersed  in 


64  THE   ENGLISH   IN  AMERICA. 

the  several  towns,  and  to  be  well  ironed  and  set  to  work.  It 
was  further  ordered,  if  any  of  them  attempted  to  escape,  or  re- 
peated, either  verbally  or  in  writing,  their  heretical  doctrines,  or 
reproached  the  Church  or  the  Civil  Government,  upon  proof 
thereof  they  were  to  suffer  death.  Now,  that  intercourse  between 
the  mother  country  and  the  colony  had  become  so  frequent  (two 
hundred  and  ninety-eight  ships  having  arrived  since  the  first 
settlement),  these  violent  proceedings  could  not  long  remain  con- 
cealed. Vigorous  measures  were  immediately  adopted  for  reducing 
the  people  to  subjection,  and  preventing  disorderly  emigration. 
Orders  were  issued  to  the  Wardens  of  the  cinque-ports,  not  to 
allow  any  subsidy  men  to  embark  for  the  plantations  without 
license,  nor  any  persons  under  that  degree,  without  proper  evi- 
dence that  they  had  taken  the  oaths  of  supremacy  and  allegiance. 
The  Grand  Council  of  Plymouth,  from  whom  Massachusetts 
had  derived  its  title,  was  called  upon  to  explain  its  conduct  rela- 
tive to  the  transfer  of  territory  it  had  made  to  the  colony  of 
Massachusetts.  This  association,  consisting  of  the  first  nobility 
and  gentry  in  England,  immediately  resigned  its  Charter,  declar- 
ing, "  that  the  Puritan  patentees  having  surreptitiously  obtained 
from  the  Crown  a  confirmation  of  their  grant  of  the  soil,  had  not 
only  excluded  them  from  the  public  government  of  the  corpora- 
tion, but  had  made  themselves  a  free  people,  and  for  such  held 
themselves  at  present,  framing  new  conceits  of  religion,  and  new 
form  of  ecclesiastical  and  temporal  government,  punishing  divers 
that  would  not  approve  thereof,  some  by  whipping,  and  others  by 
burning  their  houses,  and  some  by  banishment,  under  other  pre- 
tenses indeed,  yet  for  no  other  cause,  save  only  to  make  themselves 
absolute  masters  of  the  country,  and  uncontrollable  in  their  new 
laws."  *  Such  were  the  reasons  which  reduced  the  Council  of 
Plymouth  to  the  necessity  of  requesting  "  their  sovereign"  to  take 
the  whole  business  into  his  own  hands.  An  order  also  issued  to 
the  Attorney-General  to  bring  a  quo  warranto  against  the  cor- 

Such  a  serious  charge  has  great  names  to  sustain  it : 


Lord  Georges,  President. 

Captain  Mason,  Vice  President. 

Marquis  of  Hamilton. 

Earl  of  Arnndel  and  Surrey. 

Earl  of  Southampton. 

Earl  of  Lindsey. 

Earl  of  Carlisle. 

Earl  of  Stirling. 


Lord  Maltravers. 
Lord  Alexander. 
Sir  Ferdinand  Georges. 
Sir  Kenelm  Digby. 
Sir  Robert  Mansel. 
Sir  Henry  Spelman 
Sir  James  Baggs. 
Mr.  Montague. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  65 

poration  *of  Massachusetts.  An  enlarged  plan  for  a  general 
government  of  New  England  was  devised,  and  as  a  preliminary 
step,  Sir  Ferdinando  Georges  was  nominated  to  the  supremo 
command. 

As  soon  as  the  colonists  were  apprised  of  this  measure,  they 
prepared  to  counteract  it.  The  ministers,  whom  no  test  could 
bind,  and  who  were  ever  foremost  in  opposing  the  king's  au- 
thority, were  convened  by  the  magistrates,  and  appealed  to  for 
advice,  under  the  endearing  appellation  of  the  Fathers  of  the 
Country.  They  accordingly  assembled  at  Boston  from  all  the 
various  townships,  and  the  question  was  formally  submitted  to 
them  :  "  What  is  to  be  done  if  a  Governor-General  be  sent  over  1" 
They  unanimously  advised  that  the  colony  ought  not  to  accept 
him,  but  to  defend  its  lawful  possession  if  able,  otherwise  to  avoid 
or  protract.  To  have  insured  obedience,  would  have  required  an 
army,  and  the  king  now  needed  all  the  forces  he  could  muster  to 
defend  himself.  The  plan  therefore  failed  for  want  of  means. 

During  all  this  time,  Massachusetts  was  herself  convulsed  with 
religious  differences,  which,  like  those  in  England,  led  to  the 
planting  of  new  colonies. 

Connecticut,  Providence,  New  Haven,  and  other  settlements, 
were  founded  by  those  who  complained  of  persecution  for  con- 
science sake.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  give  any  account  of  these 
controversies,  nor  of  the  principal  actors  in  them,  as  they  do  not 
legitimately  fall  within  the  scope  of  this  work ;  but  their  migra- 
tions are  remarkable,  as  emanations  from  the  parent  colony,  the 
people  of  which,  though  differing  in  matters  of  faith  from  the 
refugees,  agreed  with  them  in  political  opinions.  Following  the 
example  of  Massachusetts,  they  all  formed  constituencies  for 
themselves,  based  on  mutual  compact,  and  the  broad  foundation 
of  popular  rights.  Each  established  a  little  separate  republic. 
Thus  their  dissensions,  no  less  than  their  consort,  tended  to  spread 
their  democratic  principles,  which  were  so  soon  to  be  adopted  by 
the  whole  population  of  the  Continent.  Extending  their  settle- 
ments, however,  temporally  exposed  them  to  new  danger,  by 
bringing  them  in  contact  with  distant  and  hostile  tribes  "of 
Indians,  which  compelled  them  to  unite  in  a  general  confedera- 
tion, and  attack  the  enemies  in  their  own  country.  Contests 
with  the  savages,  like  their  intestine  disputes  on  points  of  doctrine, 
I  must  also  pass  over,  for  the  same  reason.  But  it  is  important 


66  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

to  note,  that  in  the  Pequod  campaign,  they  exercised  one  of  the 
highest  acts  of  sovereign  power,  that  of  making  war,  as  they  had 
previously  done  by  entering  into  a  treaty  of  alliance  and  com- 
merce with  another  people. 

The  expedition  commenced  with  senseless  bigotry,  and  termin- 
ated with  unrelenting  cruelty.  When  the  troops  were  mustered, 
a  most  alarming  discovery  was  made,  that  a  great  many,  both  of 
the  officers  and  men,  were  under  a  covenant  of  works,  and  it  was 
necessary  to  delay  operations  iintil  the  army  could  be  purified 
from  the  pollution  arising  from  such  unsanctified  and  desperately 
wicked  heretics.  The  promise  which  was  given  them  of  old. in 
Scripture,  and  especially  referred  to  by  the  Puritans  of  New 
England,  "  Ask  of  me,  and  I  will  give  thee  the  heathen  for  thine 
inheritance,  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  posses- 
sion," could  not,  they  said,  be  deemed  to  include  men  so  lost  in 
error  as  these  Antinomians  and  Farnilists.  After  much  fasting 
and  prayer,  and  some  expulsions  and  admonitions,  the  preachers 
pronounced  them  in  a  fit  state  to  proceed,  and  foretold  the  result 
with  that  confidence  with  which  victory  may  always  be  predicted, 
when  the  bow  and  the  arrow  alone  are  opposed  to  fire-arms. 
They  were  accompanied  by  a  minister  who  was  desirous  of  pre- 
serving that  purity  of  doctrine  he  had  so  much  difficulty  of 
infusing  into  them,  and  of"  rejoicing  his  heart,"  as  he  said,  "by 
seeing  those  that  dwell  in  the  wilderness  bow  before  him,  and  his 
enemies  lick  the  dust." 

It  is  a  great  relief  to  be  spared  the  task  of  recording  the  details 
of  this  dreadful  massacre  of  a  whole  tribe,  that  mustered  a  thou- 
sand warriors,  equal  to  the  best  and  bravest  of  the  whole  Ameri- 
can continent.  Bancroft,  who  seems  proud  of  the  prowess  of  the 
Puritans,  thus  sums  up  this  "  glorious  exploit."  After  describing 
in  glowing  colors  the  defeat  of  the  main  body,  he  says :  "  The 
rest  were  pursued  into  their  hiding-places.*  Every  wigwam  was 

*  In  "Thatcher's  History  of  the  Town  of  New  Plymouth,"  p.  65,  is  an  account 
of  a  barbarous  deed,  committed  by  Captain  Standish,  under  the  sanction  of  the 
Governor.  He  and  four  others  fell  on  an  equal  number  of  Indians,  whom  he  had 
decoyed  into  a  house,  and  slew  them  all.  Cutting  off  the  head  of  the  chief,  and 
tarrying  it  back  in  triumph,  he  set  it  up  on  a  pole  in  the  town  as  a  terror  to  this 
people,  whom  they  were  pleased  to  call  Savages.  When  their  worthy  pastor, 
whom  they  had  left  at  Leyden,  heard  of  it,  he  wrote  to  the  Church,  "that  he 
doubted  whether  there  was  not  wanting  that  tenderness  of  the  life  of  man, 
made  after  God's  image,  that  was  meet,"  adding,  "  it  would  have  been  happj 
if  they  had  converted  some  before  they  had  killed  any." 


THE   ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  67 

burned,  every  settlement  was  broken  up,  every  corn-field  laid 
waste ;  there  remained  not  a  sarrup,  nor  squaw,  nor  child,  nor 
warrior  of  the  Pequod  name.  A  nation  had  disappeared  from 
the  family  of  men." 

The  alarm  of  the  colonists,  arising  from  the  interference  of  the 
king  and  his  governor-general,  and  their  fears  relative  to  their 
charter,  soon  gave  place  to  hopes  that  Royalty  and  Episcopacy 
would  ere  long  cease  to  exist  in  England.  The  unfortunate  mon- 
arch had  now  to  struggle  for  his  life  and  his  throne,  and  Mas- 
sachusetts was  suffered  to  enjoy  her  independence  undisturbed, 
and  lay  the  foundation  of  those  institutions  which  in  time  to 
corne  were  to  support,  and  maintain  the  great  American  republic. 
The  cost  of  New  England  colonization  so  far,  has  been  estimated 
at  two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds,  a  great  sum  for  those 
times,  but  probably  short  of  the  truth.  Already  there  existed, 
east  of  the  Hudson,  twelve  independent  democratic  communities, 
comprising  not  less  than  fifty  towns,  or  distinct  settlements ;  but 
a  consolidation  took  place  soon  after,  by  which  the  inconvenience 
resulting  from  so  many  separate  jurisdictions  was  remedied  by 
reducing  them  to  six. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

The  Colony  exercises  Sovereignty  in  external  Affairs — Confederates  with  Con- 
necticut, New  Haven,  and  Plymouth — Terms  of  Confederation — Effects  of  it 
in  America — Commissioners  of  the  United  Colonies  receive  a  Diplomatic 
Agent  from  Acadie,  and  the  Governor-General  of  Canada  sends  an  Envoy  to 
the  Swedish  Governor  on  the  Delaware,  and  negotiates  with  the  Dutch  on 
the  Hudson — Massachusetts  coins  Money — State  of  the  Colony— Parliament 
exempts  New  England  from  Taxes — The  People'resolve  not  to  ask  Favors  of 
Parliament — Decline  to  send  Delegates  to  the  Assembly  of  Ministers  at 
Westminister — Sir  Harry  Vane  advocates  their  Cause — Parliament  exempts 
them  from  certain  Duties — Prerogative  Claims — Sole  Control  of  Colonies — 
Sketch  of  its  Origin — Idea  of  Navigation  Laws,  suggested  by  James  I. — 
General  Court  calls  in  the  Aid  of  the  Elders,  and  deliberates  on  the  Subject  of 
Parliamentary  Control,  and  refuses  to  submit — They  remonstrate  with  the 
House  of  Commons,  and  obtain  a  favorable  Answer. 

WE  have  now  arrived  at  a  period  in  the  history  of  this  little 
commonwealth  in  which  we  may  clearly  trace  the  origin  of  the 
federal  union  of  the  several  States  of  the  great  republic.  We 
have  shown  that  the  people  maintained  that  their  institutions 
were  established  by  the  free  consent,  and  for  the  benefit  of  all  ; 
that  the  country  was  their  own,  and  that  no  man  had  a  right  to 
enter  it  without  their  permission ;  that  they  had  full  and  ample 
power  of  governing,  by  men  chosen  from  among  themselves, 
according  to  such  laws  as  they  should  see  fit  to  enact,  provided 
that  they  were  not  repugnant  to  those  of  England ;  that  they 
held  the  keys  of  the  territory  ;  were  entitled  to  prescribe  terms  of 
naturalization  to  all  noviciates ;  and  further  that  they  were  only 
subject  to  the  king  according  to  the  charter,  and  not  otherwise. 
In  short,  they  insisted  that  to  all  intents  and  purposes  they  were 
independent,  except  as  restrained  by  the  terms  of  their  compact. 
This  claim  was  illustrated  by  their  acts ;  hitherto  they  had 
sustained  it  by  the  manner  they  managed  their  internal  affairs, 
lu  one  or  two  instances,  as  we  have  seen,  they  showed  a  disposi- 
tion to  exert  external  sovereignty  also.  This  intention  was  now 
boldly  avowed  and  openly  acted  upon  ;  Massachusetts  this  year 
(19th  May,  1643)  entered  into  "a  firm  arid  perpetual  league," 
offensive  and  defensive,  with  the  provinces  of  Plymouth,  Con- 
necticut, and  New  Haven,  under  the  designation  of  the  United 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  69 

Colonies  of  New  England.  All  these  were  rigidly  Puritanical. 
Rhode  Island  was  rejected  under  the  plausible  pretext  of  being 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  Plymouth,  but  in  reality  because  she 
indulged  the  inhabitants  with  more  toleration  in  religious  opinions 
than  Massachusetts  approved. 

The  substance  of  the  agreement  is  as  follows  :  * 

"  Each  colony  to  retain  a  distinct  and  separate  jurisdiction,  no 
two  to  join  in  one  jurisdiction  without  the  consent  of  the  whole, 
and  no  other  to  be  received  into  the  confederacy  without  the  like 
consent. 

"  Upon  notice  from  three  magistrates  of  any  colony  of  an  inva- 
sion, the  rest  shall  immediately  send  aid,  Massachusetts  one 
hundred,  and  each  of  the  rest  forty-five  men ;  and  if  a  greater 
number  be  necessary,  the  Commissioners  to  meet  and  determine 
upon  it.  Two  delegates  from  each  Government,  being  Church 
members,  to  meet  annually  the  first  Monday  in  September,  the 
first  meeting  to  be  held  at  Boston,  then  at  Hartford,  New 
Haven,  and  Plymouth,  and  so  yearly,  in  that  order,  saving  that 
two  sittings  successively  be  held  at  Boston.  All  matters  wherein 
six  shall  agree  to  be  binding  upon  the  whole  ;  but  if  the  majority 
be  under  that  number,  the  matter  in  question  to  be  referred  to 
the  General  Court,  and  not  to  be  obligatory  unless  the  whole 
agree  to  it. 

"  A  President  for  preserving  order  to  be  chosen  by  the  Com- 
missioners annually  out  of  their  number. 

"The  Commissioners  shall  have  power  to  establish  laws  or 
rules  of  a  civil  nature,  and  of  general  concern  for  the  conduct  of 
the  inhabitants,  viz.,  relating  to  their  behavior  toward  the  In- 
dians, to  fugitives  from  one  colony  to  another,  and  the  like. 

"  No  colony  to  engage  in  war,  except  upon  a  sudden  exigency, 
and  in  that  case  to  be  avoided  as  much  as  possible,  without  the 
consent  of  the  whole. 

"  If  a  meeting  be  summoned  upon  any  extraordinary  occasion, 
and  the  whole  number  of  Commissioners  do  not  assemble,  any 
four  who  shall  meet  may  determine  upon  a  war,  when  the  case 
will  not  admit  of  a  delay,  and  send  for  the  proportion  of  men 
agreed  upon  out  of  each  jurisdiction,  but  not  less  than  six  shall 
determine  the  justice  of  the  war,  or  have  power  to  settle  bills  of 
exchange,  or  make  levies  for  the  same. 

*  See  Hutchinson,  vol.  i.  p.  124. 


70  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

"  If  a  colony  break  an  article  of  the  agreement,  or  any  way  in- 
jure another,  the  matter  shall  be  considered  and  determined  by 
the  Commissioners  of  the  other  provinces." 

The  unity  of  action  obtained  by  this  treaty,  the  respect  the 
Court  of  Commissioners  maintained  and  enforced,  not  only  within 
their  own  jurisdiction,  but  with  their  French,  Dutch,  and  Indian 
neighbors,  and  the  weight  and  influence  they  enjoyed  among  all 
the  inhabitants  of  this  Continent,  first  suggested  the  Congress,  and 
then  the  Federal  Government  of  the  present  day. 

It  was  a  bold  step  to  take  without  the  assent  of  a  higher 
authority,  but  the  intestine  troubles  of  England  left  her  but  little 
time  to  inquire  into  matters  that  sank  into  insignificance,  when 
compared  with  the  momentous  struggles  in  which  she  was  en- 
gaged, and  it  was  suffered  to  pass  either  without  notice  or  with- 
out rebuke. 

This  union  subsisted  until  1686,  and  presented  a  great  obsta- 
cle in  the  way  of  adjusting  every  dispute  between  the  mother 
country  and  the  colonies,  as  the  Commissioners  ever  counseled  a 
firm  opposition  to  what  they  called  prerogative  encroachment. 
When  disobedience  was  unsafe,  they  recommended  delay ;  and 
when  remonstrance  was  unavailing,  they  advised  resistance. 
But  they  never  ceased  to  deny  the  rights,  and  impugn  the  mo- 
tives of  the  parent  state,  ungraciously  regarding  concessions  as 
marks  of  weakness,  and  perversely  constructing  every  refusal  into 
an  act  of  despotism.  It  mainly  contributed  to  foster  the  feelings 
that  subsequently  ripened  into  rebellion.  It  illustrated  the  vast 
power  of  numbers  and  unity,  the  advantage  that  disaffection  de- 
rives from  centralization,  and  the  easy  and  simple  manner  in 
which  a  federal  combination  of  a  few  plantations  may  be  made 
to  adapt  itself  to  any  given  number  of  States. 

A  similar  institution  is  recommended  for  the  remaining  British 
provinces.  It  is  easy  to  foresee  that  a  repetition  of  the  experi- 
ment will  produce  a  like  result.  The  very  extensive  powers 
thus  assumed  by  the  confederation  placed  the  united  colonies  in 
the  situation  of  a  sovereign  and  independent  nation.  One  of  its 
first  acts  was  to  receive  a  diplomatic  agent  from  the  French 
Governor  of  Acadie,  a  district  of  New  France  that  comprised  the 
territory  now  subdivided  into  Nova  Scotia  and  New  Brunswick, 
with  whom  they  entered  into  a  treaty  of  peace  and  commerce, 
which  was  executed  and  ratified  with  the  usual  formalities.  A 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  71 

charge  d'affaires  was  also  received  and  accredited  by  the  repub- 
lic from  the  Governor-General  of  Canada  on  behalf  of  the  King 
of  France,  and  negotiations  were  entered  into  for  reciprocal  free- 
dom of  trade,  and  for  an  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  between 
the  two  high  contracting  parties,  which  alone  failed  of  success 
from  a  dread  on  the  part  of  Massachusetts  of  drawing  down  upon 
her  the  resentment  of  the  Indian  tribes.  They  also  sent  an  en- 
voy to  the  Swedish  commandant  on  the  Delaware,  and  opened  a 
correspondence  with  the  Dutch  settlement  on  the  Hudson. 

Nothing  now  remained  but  to  exercise  the  prerogative  of  an 
independent  mint,  to  complete  the  usual  attributes  of  sovereignty, 
and  this  was  ventured  upon  without  hesitation  in  1652,  when 
three  sorts  of  silver  coins,  severally  of  the  value  of  a  shilling,  six- 
pence, and  threepence,  were  ordered  to  be  struck  off  in  large 
quantities.  This  money  bore  on  the  face  of  it  no  reference  what- 
ever to  the  mother  country,  and  no  recognition  of  the  ruling 
power  there.  It  was  essentially  American.  By  order  of  the 
court,  each  piece  was  encircled  by  a  double  ring,  having  the  in- 
scription, Massachusetts,  with  a  native  tree  (pine),  emblematical 
of  the  country  on  one  side,  and  the  words  "  New  England"  and 
the  year  of  our  Lord  on  the  other.*  A  large  sum  was  thus 
struck  off  and  put  into  circulation,  and  the  right  was  exercised 
for  a  period  of  thirty  years,  although  the  coins  for  an  obvious 
reason  bore  the  same  date. 

The  change  that  had  now  taken  place  in  the  affairs  of  the 
king,  damped  the  ardor  of  emigration,  in  proportion  as  the  pros- 
pect increased,  that  the  whole  nation  would  shortly  be  subjected 

*  The  excuse  for  this  coinage  was  even  more  modest  than  the  act  itself.  Sir 
Thomas  Temple,  who  had  resided  several  years  in  New  England,  and  was  him- 
self a  Puritan,  gave  the  king  a  most  extraordinary  version  of  it.  After  the  res- 
toration, when  he  returned  to  England,  the  king  sent  for  him,  and  discoursed 
with  him  on  the  state  of  Massachusetts,  and  discovered  great  warmth  against 
that  colony.  Among  other  things,  he  said  they  had  invaded  his  prerogative  by 
coining  money.  Sir  Thomas,  who  was  a  real  friend  to  the  colony,  told  his  maj- 
esty that  the  colonists  had  but  little  acquaintance  with  law,  and  that  they 
thought  it  no  crime  to  make  money  for  their  own  use.  In  the  course  of  the 
conversation,  Sir  Thomas  took  some  of  the  money  out  of  his  pocket,  and  pre- 
sented it  to  the  king.  On  one  side  of  the  coin  was  a  pine-tree,  of  that  kind 
which  is  thick  and  bushy  at  the  top.  Charles  asked  what  tree  that  was.  Sir 
Thomas  informed  him  it  was  the  royal-oak,  which  preserved  his  majesty's  life. 
This  account  of  the  matter  brought  the  king  into  good-humor,  and  disposed  him 
to  hear  what  Sir  Thomas  had  to  say  in  their  favor,  calling  them  a  "  parcel  of 
honest  dogs." — Hist.  Col,  vol.  vn.  p.  229. 


72  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

to  the  rule  of  the  saints.  But  enough  had  been  done  to  lay  the 
foundation  of  a  powerful  republic. 

After  the  first  indispensable  wants  of  the  people  had  been  at- 
tended to,  industry  was  directed  to  commerce  and  navigation,  and 
a  very  profitable  exchange  took  place,  between  the  traders  of 
Massachusetts  and  the  planters  of  the  West  Indies,  of  the  pro- 
ductions of  their  respective  countries.  In  little  more  than  ten 
years,  fifty  towns  and  villages,  and  between  thirty  and  forty 
churches  had  been  built,  and  some  attempts  had  been  made  in 
manufacturing  cotton.  If  they  had  reason  to  be  gratified  at 
the  contemplation  of  their  affairs  at  home,  they  saw  with  un- 
disguised delight  the  triumph  of  their  party  in  England.  The 
Parliament  contained  many  friends  who  were  most  anxious  to 
further  their  views  in  any  way  in  their  power.  Nor  was  it  long 
before  they  received  a  substantial  mark  of  its  favor.  In  1642  it 
passed  an  ordinance  for  their  encouragement,  by  freeing  them 
from  "taxation  either  inwards  or  outwards,  in  this  kingdom  or 
America,  till  the  House  take  further  order  thereon  to  the  contrary." 

During  the  same  session  it  established  a  council  for  the  colo- 
nies, similar  to  that  of  1635,  which  entered  immediately  on  its 
duties,  and  uniting  Providence  and  Rhode  Island  into  one  gov- 
ernment, gave  it  a  patent  of  incorporation  containing  the  usual 
clause,  that  its  enactments  should  not  be  repugnant  to  the  laws 
of  England.  These  favors  they  were  willing  to  receive  whenever 
they  could  be  granted  unasked,  or  at  all  events  not  openly  solicit- 
ed, so  much  appearance  of  reserve  did  they  think  it  necessary  to 
maintain,  in  order  that  the  dependence  on  the  Imperial  Legisla- 
ture, or  its  right  to  control  them,  could  not  be  inferred  from  their 
acts.  "Upon  the  great  liberty,"  says  Winthrop,*  "which  the 
king  had  left  the  Parliament,  some  of  our  friends  there  wrote  to  us 
advice  to  solicit  for  us  in  Parliament,  giving  us  hopes  that  we 
might  obtain  much.  But  consulting  about  it,  we  declined  the  mo- 
tion for  this  consideration,  that  if  we  should  put  ourselves  under  their 
protection,  we  must  then  be  subject  to  all  such  laws  as  they  should 
make,  or  at  least,  such  as  they  might  impose  upon  us."  So  anx- 
ious were  they  to  keep  themselves  totally  distinct  from  the  juris- 
diction of  any  exterior  tribunal  whatever,  that  when  the  assembly 
of  preachers  at  Westminster  sent  for  three  of  their  ministers  to 

*  Winthrop,  vol.  II.  p.  25. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  73 

join  them  in  their  deliberations,  they  declined  the  invitation  on 
the  ground  that  "  if  the  churches  of  New  England  appeared  there 
by  their  representatives,  great  exception  might  be  taken  to  the 
building  after  a  model  of  their  own  making."  Among  their 
friends  in  the  House  of  Commons,  was  Sir  Harry  Vane,  who 
some  years  previously  had  visited  Massachusetts,  and  from  his 
sanctified  manner,  high  professions,  and  demure  appearance,  was 
elected  Governor,  but  his  intriguing  disposition,  and  fondness  for 
theological  controversy,  soon  involved  him  and  the  whole  commu- 
nity iu  violent  altercation.  Hutchinson  calls  him  an  inexperi- 
enced but  obstinate  and  self-sufficient  man,  and  the  people  became 
so  dissatisfied  with  his  conduct,  that  they  not  only  refused  to  re- 
elect  him  the  following  year,  but  would  not  even  choose  him  as 
an  assistant,  and  passed  a  law  that  no  man  should  be  eligible  in 
future  for  the  office  of  chief  magistrate,  until  he  had  resided  at 
least  twelve  months  in  the  country. 

Notwithstanding  the  disgust  he  felt  at  his  defeat,  as  he  was 
not  very  cordial  with  those  with  whom  he  was  now  acting  (for 
his  temper  was  so  intractable  as  to  render  his  support  and  his 
opposition  equally  precarious  and  dangerous),  he  procured,  at  the 
intercession  of  some  of  his  old  adherents  in  Boston,  what  protec- 
tion he  could  for  them.  It  was  probably  owing  to  his  influence 
that  the  Commons  again  in  1645  and  1646  extended  to  them 
relief  from  imposts  for  three  years,  provided  their  productions 
were  transported  in  English  ships,  and  in  the  following  year  ex- 
empted all  goods  that  should  be  exported  to  the  plantation  from 
custom  duties. 

The  weakness  of  the  sovereign,  and  the  importance  of  the  in- 
terests at  stake,  now  invited  the  interference  of  Parliament  in  the 
affairs  of  the  colonies.  Originally  the  king  had  claimed  the  ex- 
clusive right  to  legislate  for  them.  One  of  the  earliest  acts  in 
reference  to  America  was  passed  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI.  re- 
lating to  Newfoundland,  but  this  was  not  suffered  to  operate  as 
a  precedent.  Queen  Elizabeth,  ever  watchful  of  her  prerogative, 
claimed  the  exclusive  right  to  all  countries  discovered  by  her  sub- 
jects. The  first  charter  conferred  upon  an  English  colony  was 
granted  to  Sir  Humphry  Gilbert,  and  its  ample  powers  disclose 
the  ideas  of  the  age,  with  respect  to  the  nature  of  such  settle- 
ments. She  vested  in  him  in  perpetuity  the  full  right  of  proper- 
ty in  the  soil  of  those  countries  of  which  he  should  take  posses- 

D 


74  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

sion,  to  be  held  of  the  Crown  of  England  by  homage,  or  payment 
of  one-fifth  of  the  gold  and  silver  ore  found  there.  "  She  confer- 
red upon  him  the  complete  jurisdiction  and  royalties,  as  well  ma- 
vine  as  other,  within  the  said  lands  and  seas  thereunto  adjoining ; 
and  as  the  common  safety  and  interests  of  the  people  would  ren- 
der good  government  necessary  in  their  new  settlements,  she  gave 
him  his  heirs  and  assigns,  full  power  to  convict,  punish,  pardon, 
govern,  and  rule,  as  well  in  causes  capital  or  criminal  as  civil, 
both  marine  and  other,  according  to  such  statutes,  laws  and  ordi- 
nances, as  shall  be  by  him,  his  heirs  and  assigns,  devised  and  es- 
tablished for  their  better  government."  She  declared  that  all 
who  settled  there,  should  have  and  enjoy  all  the  free  privileges  of 
free  denizens  and  natives  of  England,  any  law,  custom,  or  usage 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding ;  and  finally  she  prohibited  all 
persons  from  attempting  to  settle  within  two  hundred  leagues  of 
any  place  which  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert  or  his  associates  should 
have  occupied  during  the  space  of  six  years." 

James,  pursuing  the  same  course  as  his  predecessor,  took  the 
whole  management  of  American  affairs  into  his  own  hands.  In 
1621,  when  the  Commons  introduced  a  bill  for  a  free  fishery  on 
the  coast  of  Virginia  and  New  England,  they  were  informed, 
"  that  those  countries  ought  to  be  regarded  as  the  king's,  since 
they  were  acquired  by  conquest,  and  that  not  being  yet  annexed 
to  the  crown,  his  Majesty  may  govern  such  new  plantations  as 
he  shall  see  fit."  To  which  it  was  answered,  "that  the  royal 
prerogative  is  not  impeached  by  the  present  measure,  since  what 
is  done  here  is  done  by  the  king  himself,  who  hath  a  negative ; 
that  those  territories  being  holden  of  the  Manor  of  East  Green- 
wich are  as  much  annexed  to  the  crown  as  it ;  and  we  may  make 
laws  here  for  Virginia  and  New  England,  because  if  the  king 
and  lords  assent  to  the  act  it  will  control  the  patent."  The 
royal  prerogative  in  matters  of  trade,  aided  and  enlarged  the 
power  assumed  and  possessed  over  plantations.  To  the  exclusive 
right  to  give  a  Charter,  therefore,  was  added  a  discretionary  pow- 
er to  license  emigration,  to  permit  the  exportation  of  merchandise, 
and  to  grant  exemption  from  imports  for  a  limited  time. 

It  was  in  the  exercise  of  this  authority  that  James  I.  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  celebrated  navigation  act,  by  trying  the  experi 
ment  of  its  principle  on  a  small  scale  in  the  trade  of  Virginia. 
The  planter?,  having  in  1621,  sent  their  tobacco  to  Flushing  and 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  75 

other  ports,  the 'king  issued  an  order  "that  no  tobacco  or  other 
production  of  the  colonies  shall  be  carried  into  foreign  parts,  till 
they  are  first  landed  in  England,  and  the  customs  paid  :  for  to 
suffer  a  traffic  of  that  kind  is  as  inconsistent  with  the  view  of 
settling  Virginia  as  with  the  honor  of  the  State." 

But  the  House  of  Commons,  whose  power  was  daily  increasing, 
having  taken  upon  itself  to  interfere  in  the  affairs  of  the  Ameri- 
can provinces,  a  new  source  of  dread  arose  in  the  minds  of  the 
emigrants :  for  to  their  apprehensions  of  the  king  and  the  hier- 
archy, was  now  added  that  of  the  Parliament.  Still  they  could 
not  but  congratulate  themselves  (if  such  a  control  was  inevitable) 
on  their  good  fortune  in  having  escaped  from  its  effects  until  the 
present  most  auspicious  time  for  its  exercise.  It  was  very  far, 
however,  from  their  intention  to  acquiesce  in  the  right,  for  they 
equally  denied  the  jurisdiction  of  all  three.  Among  the  innova- 
tions that  were  contemplated,  was  a  proposition  to  recall  the  old 
and  grant  a  new  and  more  perfect  Charter.  The  General  Court 
met  for  the  purpose  of  considering  the  subject,  which  was  deemed 
of  such  vital  importance  as  to  call  for  the  aid  of  the  Elders,  who 
were  accordingly  convened  to  assist  in  their  deliberations.  The 
result  of  their  conference  was,  as  Parliament  claimed  "  a  supreme 
power  in  all  things,"  not  to  accept  a  new  patent ;  for  that  would 
imply  a  resignation  of  the  old  one,  and  they  resolved  ;  "if  they 
shall  be  less  inclinable  to  us,  we  must  wait  upon  Providence  for 
the  preservation  of  our  just  liberties." 

At  that  time  it  was  the  creed  of  every  Puritan  in  the  colony 
that  if  "  the  king  or  any  party  from  him,  shall  attempt  any  thing 
against  the  commonwealth,"  it  was  the  duty  of  the  people  "  to 
spend  estate,  and  life,  and  all,  without  scruple,  in  its  defense ; 
that  if  the  Parliament  itself  should  hereafter  be  of  a  malignant 
spirit,  then,  if  the  province  have  sufficient  strength,  it  may  with- 
stand any  authority  from  them  to  its  hurt."  Massachusetts  went 
even  so  far  as  to  call  herself  Republica  Perfccta,  "  a  perfect  re- 
public." Acting  under  these  strong  impressions,  they  remon- 
strated in  most  decided  terms  with  the  House  of  Commons  (which 
had  under  its  consideration  the  appeal  of  the  petitioners  I  referred 
to  in  the  last  chapter)  against  any  power  of  supervision.  An 
order  from  England  they  say,  is  "  prejudicial  to  our  chartered  lib- 
erties and  to  our  well-being  in  this  remote  part  of  the  world. 
Times  may  be  changed,  for  all  things  here  below  are  subject  to 


76  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

variety,  and  other  princes  and  parliaments  may  arise.  Let  not 
succeeding  generations  have  cause  to  lament  and  say  :  '  England 
sent  our  fathers  forth  with  happy  liberties  which  they  enjoyed 
many  years,  notwithstanding  all  the  enmity  and  opposition  of 
the  prelacy  and  other  potent  adversaries,  and  yet  these  liberties 
were  lost  at  the  season  when  England  itself  recovered  its  own.' 
We  rode  out  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  shall  we  perish  in  port  ? 
We  have  not  admitted  appeals  to  your  authority,  being  assured 
they  can  not  stand  with  the  liberty  and  power  granted  us  by  our 
Charter,  and  would  be  destructive  to  all  government. 

"  These  considerations  are  not  new  to  the  High  Court  of  Par- 
liament, the  records  whereof  bear  witness  of  the  wisdom  and 
faithfulness  of  our  ancestors  in  that  great  Council  who,  in  those 
times  of  darkness,  when  they  acknowledged  a  supremacy  in  the 
Roman  Bishops,  in  all  causes  ecclesiastical,  yet  would  not  allow 
appeals  to  Rome.  The  wisdom  and  experience  of  that  great 
Council,  the  English  Parliament,  are  more  able  to  prescribe  rules 
of  government,  and  judge  causes,  than  such  poor  rustics  as  a 
wilderness  can  breed  up,  yet  the  vast  distance  between  England 
and  these  parts  abates  the  virtue  of  the  strongest  influences. 
Your  councils  and  judgments  can  neither  be  so  well-grounded, 
nor  so  seasonably  applied,  as  might  either  be  useful  to  us,  or  safe 
for  yourselves,  in  your  discharge  in  the  great  day  of  account.  If 
any  miscarriage  shall  befall  us  when  we  have  the  government  in 
our  own  hands,  the  State  of  England  shall  not  answer  for  it. 

"  Continue  your  favorable  aspect  to  these  infant  plantations, 
that  we  may  still  rejoice  and  bless  our  God  under  your  shadow, 
and  be  there  still  nourished  with  the  warmth  and  dew  of  Heaven. 
Confirm  our  liberties,  discountenance  our  enemies,  the  disturbers 
of  our  peace,  under  pretense  of  our  injustice.  A  gracious  testi- 
mony of  your  wonted  favor  will  oblige  us  and  our  posterity." 

The  Committee  of  the  House  was  favorable  to  them.  They 
felt  a  lively  interest  in  New  England,  not  merely  on  account  of 
its  being  the  first-fruit  of  Puritanism,  but  because  in  the  eventful 
times  in  which  they  lived  it  was  not  impossible  it  might  yet  be- 
come an  asylum  for  themselves.  "  We  encourage,"  they  said, 
"  no  appeals  from  your  justice,  we  leave  you  all  the  freedom  and 
latitude  that  may  in  any  respect  be  duly  claimed  by  you." 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Massachusetts,  with  the  Rebels  in  England — Proclamation  against  the  King's 
Party — Hugh  Peters  sent  to  England  to  urge  on  the  Rebellion — Cromwell 
appoints  him  his  Chaplain,  and  presents  him  with  a  Commission  of  a  Colonel 
in  the  Army — His  favorite  Text  in  Execution — The  Provincials  decline  to  use 
the.names  of  the  Keepers  of  the  Liberties  of  England  in  Official  Papers,  or 
to  renew  their  Charter — They  also  refuse  to  take  part  in  the  War  between 
England  and  Holland — Conduct  of  the  Virginians  after  the  King's  Death,  con- 
trasted with  theirs — Trade  with  Virginia  forbidden — Admiral  Ascue  sent  to 
reduce  the  Loyalists  to  Obedience — Puritans  of  Massachusetts  flatter  the 
Parliament,  and  approve  Cromwell's  Share  in  the  Death  of  the  King — He 
offers  them  Jamaica,  or  confiscated  Estates  in  Ireland — Reasons  for  declin- 
ing— Arrival  of  the  Regicides,  Goffe  andWballey — Their  Reception  and  His- 
tory—Pretended Search  for  them — Conduct  of  Virginia  at  the  Death  of  Crom- 
well, contrasted  with  that  of  Massachusetts — Extraordinary  Letter  of  the 
General  Court  to  Charles  II. — The  King  proclaimed — People  forbidden  to 
drink  his  Health. 

THROUGHOUT  the  whole  period  of  the  Civil  War,  which  finally 
ended  in  the  captivity  and  death  of  Charles  I.,  the  colonists 
warmly  and  deeply  sympathized  with  the  Puritan  rebels  and 
saintly  murderers  of  the  unhappy  monarch.  Some  of  the  more 
zealous  and  active  spirits  returned  to  their  native  land  to  join  in 
the  work  of  the  brethren,  and  those  who  anxiously  watched  the 
progress  of  events  at  a  distance,  gave  consolation  and  encourage- 
ment to  the  volunteers  who  departed  in  this  holy  cause.  "  If 
thy  brother  entice  thee  to  serve  other  gods,"  they  said,  "  thou 
shalt  surely  put  him  to  death."  "  For  speaking  lies  in  the  name 
of  the  Lord,  his  father  shall  thrust  him  through  when  he  prophe- 
sieth."  But  the  issue  of  human  affairs  is  in  His  hands,  who 
alone  directs  them  and  as  no  one  can  tell  what  a  day  may  bring 
forth,  prudence  dictated  a  simulated  neutrality  of  conduct  in  their 
public  acts.  Accordingly,  the  following  extraordinary  proclama- 
tion was  issued  by  the  Governor  :  "  Whereas  the  civil  war  and 
dissensions  in  our  native  country,  through  the  seditious  words  and 
carriages  of  many  evil-affected  persons,  cause  divisions  in  many 
places  of  government  in  America,  some  professing  themselves  for 
the  king,  and  others  for  the  Parliament,  not  considering  that  the 
Parliament  themselves  profess  that  they  stand  for  the  king  and 


78  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

Parliament  against  malignant  Papists   and  delinquents  in  that 
kingdom ; 

"  It  is  therefore  ordered,  that  what  person  soever  shall  by 
word,  writing,  or  action,  endeavor  to  disturb  our  peace,  directly 
or  indirectly,  by  drawing  a  party,  under  pretense  that  he  is  for 
the  King  of  England  and  such  as  join  with  him  against  the 
Parliament,  shall  be  accounted  as  an  offender  of  a  high  nature 
against  "the  commonwealth,  and  to  be  proceeded  with  either  cap- 
itally or  otherwise,  according  to  the  quality  and  degree  of  his 
offense.  Provided  always  that  this  shall  not  be  extended  against 
any  merchant  strangers  and  shipmen  that  come  hither  merely  for 
matters  of  trade  or  merchandise,  albeit  they  should  come  from 
any  of  those  parts  that  are  in  the  hands  of  the  king,  and  such  as 
adhere  to  him  against  the  Parliament ;  carrying  themselves  here 
quietly,  and  free  from  railing  or  nourishing  any  faction,  meeting, 
or  sedition  among  us  as  aforesaid." 

Nothing  can  be  more  impartial  than  the  recital  which  applies 
to  both  sides,  and  nothing  better  calculated  to  effect  its  object, 
than  the  enacting  clause,  had  it  not  been  for  a  slight  omission  of 
one  of  the  contending  parties.  Had  this  document  ever  been 
called  in  question  in  after  days,  no  doubt  it  could  easily  have 
been  shown  to  have  originated  in  a  mistake  of  the  clerk,  or  in  an 
error  of  the  press. 

While  the  civil  war  was  in  full  progress,  a  parliamentary 
ordinance  appointed  the  Earl  of  Warwick  "  Governor  in  Chief 
and  Lord  High  Admiral  of  all  those  islands  and  plantations  in- 
habited, planted,  and  belonging  to  any  of  his  Majesty's  the  King 
of  England's  subjects,  within  the  bounds  and  upon  the  coast  of 
America,"  to  be  assisted  by  a  council,  composed  of  five  peers, 
the  Earls  of  Pembroke  and  Manchester,  Viscount  Say  and  Sele, 
Lor4s  Wharton  and  Roberts,  and  twelve  members  of  the  House 
of  Commons,  among  whom  were  Sir  Harry  Vane,  late  Governor 
of  Massachusetts,  Samuel  Passall,  one  of  the  original  patentees 
of  that  colony,  Hazelrig,  Pym,  and  Cromwell.  This  Board,  a 
pretty  close  imitation  of  the  late  royal  commission,  of  which  Laud 
.  had  been  the  head,  was  authorized  "  to  provide  for,  order,  and  dis- 
pose all  things  which  they  shall  from  time  to  time  find  most  fit 
and  advantageous  to  the  well-governing,  securing,  strengthening, 
and  preserving  of  the  said  plantations,  and  chiefly  to  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  true  Protestant  religion  among  the  said  planters  and 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  78 

inhabitants,  and  the  further  spreading  and  advancement  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  among  those  that  yet  remained  there  in  great 
and  miserable  blindness  and  ignorance."  They  were  also  au- 
thorized to  appoint,  at  pleasure,  "  all  such  subordinate  governors, 
counselors,  commanders,  and  officers  as  they  shall  judge  to  be 
best  affected,  and  most  fit  and  serviceable."  But,  as  to  any  par- 
ticular plantations,  they  might,  if  they  saw  fit,  depute  to  them 
any  or  all  of  the  above  granted  powers. 

Republicanism  was  still  further  advanced  in  the  colonies  by 
this  Board.  They  gave  to  the  noted  Roger  Williams  a  charter, 
including  the  shores  and  islands  of  Narraganset  Bay,  west  of 
Plymouth,  and  south  of  Massachusetts,  as  far  as  the  Pequod  river 
and  country,  to  be  known  as  Providence  Plantation,  with  author- 
ity to  the  inhabitants  "  to  rule  themselves"  as  they  should  find 
"  most  suitable."  This  patent  was,  to  all  intents  and  purposes, 
a  grant  of  independence.  Similarity  of  religious  and  political 
sentiment,  as  well  as  gratitude  for  favors  received,  and  hopes  for 
the  future,  led  the  General  Court  to  aid  the  revolutionary  party 
in  every  way  that  was  compatible  with  the  possible  contingency 
of  a  restoration.  They  accordingly  set  apart  a  day  nominally  for 
prayer,  but.  in  fact,  for  thanksgiving,  for  the  glad  tidings  from  En- 
gland. Three  agents,  at  the  head  of  whom  was  the  notorious  Hugh 
Peters,  the  pastor  of  Salem,  were  sent  there  "  to  promote  the  in- 
terest of  reformation,  by  stirring  up  the  war,  and  driving  it  on." 

For  this  task,  no  man  could  be  better  qualified  than  Peters. 
Having  been  expelled  from  Cambridge,  for  irregularity  of  con- 
duct, he  became  a  constant  frequenter  of  the  theatres,  and  led  a 
dissolute  life  among  the  actors.  Mistaking  disgust  and  satiety — 
the  inevitable  consequence  of  debauchery — for  repentance,  he  re- 
formed his  habits,  applied  himself  to  theological  studies,  and  was 
ordained  by  the  Bishop  of  London.  But  such  is  the  effect  of 
early  dissipation,  that  the  temptations  of  the  town,  increased  by 
abstinence,  overpowered  him  again ;  and,  having  been  detected 
in  a  most  flagitious  offense,  he  fled  to  Holland,  to  avoid  the  pun- 
ishment of  the  Civil  and  Ecclesiastical  Courts.  He  did  not  quit 
the  Church  from  conscientious  scruples,  but  because  he  had 
violated  his  VOM'S,  and  offended  against  the  laws  of  both  God  and 
man.  Like  many  others  in  all  ages,  he  resorted  to  hypocrisy  as 
a  cloak  for  his  guilt,  and  was  received  by  the  Puritans  as  a 
''  brand  plucked  from  the  fire."  The  buffoonery  of  his  manner. 


80  THE   ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

and  his  singular  power  of  modulating  his  voice,  which  he  had 
acquired  on  the  stage,  rendered  him  a  most  popular  preacher.* 
To  these  qualifications  he  added  another  of  no  less  importance — 
a  thorough  hatred  of  royalty  and  episcopacy.  His  instructions 
from  the  General  Court  were  either  verbal,  as  being  too  dangerous 
to  be  recorded,  or  purposely  destroyed  after  the  Restoration,  as 
they  can  not  now  be  found  ;  but  their  sanguinary  nature  appears 
abundantly  in  his  trial.  Such  being  his  popular  talents,  and 
such  his  errand,  he  was  welcomed  by  Cromwell  with  open  arms, 
who  created  him  his  own  chaplain,  and  presented  him  with  the 
commission  of  a  colonel  in  the  army,  saying,  at  the  same  time, 
that  he  always  found  those  who  excelled  in  prayer  made  the  best 
soldiers. 

The  favorite  text  of  the  colonial  delegate  and  divine  but  too 
plainly  indicated  the  object  for  which  he  crossed  the  ocean  : 
"  With  high  praises  in  our  mouths,  and  a  two-edged  sword  in 
our  hands,  we  are  to  execute  judgment  upon  the  heathen,  and 
punishments  upon  the  people ;  to  bind  their  kings  with  chains, 
and  their  nobles  with  fetters  of  iron."  t 

When  the  unhappy  monarch  was  brought  a  prisoner  to  Lon- 
don, Peters  was  his  jailer,  for  which  office  his  savage  temper  and 
offensive  manners  were  considered  as  the  best  qualifications. 
Whether  he  was  one  of  the  masked  headsmen  is  involved  in 
some  obscurity.  Mr.  White  Kerinet  says,  that  he  was  generally 
suspected  to  have  been  one,  and  a  man  of  the  name  of  Hulet  the 
other.  In  publicly  returning  thanks  for  being  permitted  to  share 
in  the  awful  scene,  he  exulted,  as  he  said,  with  Simeon  :  "  Lord, 
now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for  mine  eyes 
have  seen  Thy  salvation."  His  conduct  at  his  own  execution 
has  been  variously  represented.  Burnet,  in  his  "  History  of  his 
Own  Times,"  says  :  "  That  he  was  the  most  sunken  in  spirits  of 
any  of  the  regicides.  He  had  not  the  honesty  to  repent,  nor  the 
strength  of  mind  to  suffer  for  his  crime.  He  was  observed  to  be 
constantly  drinking  some  cordial  liquors  to  keep  him  from  faint- 

*  In  those  days  the  hour-glass  often  fonnd  a  place  in  the  pulpit.  In  a  likeness 
of  him,  prefixed  to  his  life,  he  is  represented  as  turning  one,  and  saying  to  his 
congregation,  "  I  know  you  are  good  fellows,  stay  and  take  another  glass. 

t  For  want  of  excitement,  Peters'  zeal  among  his  parishioners  at  Salem  was 
observed  to  have  greatly  cooled  hefore  he  sailed  on  this  mission.  He  had  sup- 
pressed the  weekly  lecture  there,  to  enable  him  to  prosecute  schemes  for  the 
fisheries,  and  for  ship-building. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  81 

ing."  Equally  respectable  authorities  say,  that  he  met  his  fate 
with  firmness  and  resolution.  The  former  version  has  probability 
so  recommend  it.  Harrison  and  others  were  enthusiasts,  who 
thought  they  were  acting  in  obedience  to  the  will  of  Heaven,  of 
which  they  believed  that  they  were  the  chosen  instruments. 
However  much  they  deluded  themselves,  it  was  at  all  events 
their  firm  conviction,  and  they  had  the  honest  support  of  a  mis- 
guided conscience  to  sustain  them  in  their  last  moments,  while 
their  courage  as  men  had  too  often  been  exhibited  to  admit  of  a 
doubt.  Peters,  on  the  other  hand,  so  far  from  having  been 
trained  in  the  rigid  school  of  Puritan  morals,  was  nurtured  in 
profligacy,  and  adopted  the  tenets  of  the  Congregationalists,  not 
because  he  believed  them,  but  that  they  afforded  him  an  asylum 
when  expelled  from  all  respectable  society.  It  is  not  improbable, 
therefore,  that  like  most  ruffians  he  was  a  coward.* 

But  much  as  the  Provincials  sympathized  with  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  firmly  as  they  believed  that  Providence  had  sanc- 
tioned their  undertaking,  and  crowned  their  arms  with  success, 
they  thought  their  own  prayers  had  been  equally  heard,  and  their 
cause  no  less  blessed,  and  that  their  little  republic  was  as  much 
their  own,  as  the  greater  one  was  the  heritage  of  the  transat- 
lantic saints.  Accordingly,  when  admonished  that  all  process  in 
the  local  courts  should  be  in  the  name  of  the  keepers  of  the  liber- 
ties of  England,  arid  that  the  powers  then  in  being  should  be 
acknowledged  by  a  renewal  of  their  charter,  they  adopted  the 
prudent  course  of  maintaining  silence  and  delay,  as  better  suited 
to  their  purpose  than  open  defiance ;  and  continued  the  forms  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed,  without  too  broadly  asserting 
their  rights  on  the  one  hand,  or  apologizing  for  their  disobedience 
on  the  other.  They  observed  the  same  reserve  afterward,  when 
Cromwell  transmitted  a  ratified  treaty  with  Holland  as  to  the 
boundaries  of  New  England,  and  the  Dutch  colony  on  the  Hud- 
son. They  declined  to  exchange  it  with  the  governor  of  that 
province,  informing  him  that  such  a  formality  was  unnecessary, 
as  the  line  indicated  on  it  was  one  which  they  had  always  held, 
and  by  which  they  were  still  willing  to  abide. 

Shortly  afterward  they  assumed  a  still  more  decided  attitude 
When  a  rupture  took  place  in  Europe  between  England  and 

*  His  widow,  who  remained  in  New  England,  was  allowed  a  pension  of 
thirty  pounds  ptfr  annum  from  his  friends  and  admirers  in  Massachusetts. 

D* 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA 

Holland,  they  informed  Cromwell  that  they  did  not  consider 
it  necessary  for  them  to  embroil  ^themselves  in  hostilities  as 
a  necessary  consequence  of  European  wars,  and  very  quietly 
continued  to  maintain,  as  before,  friendly  relations  with  their 
Belgic  neighbors.  Upon  being  again  pressed  upon  the  subject, 
and  icquested  to  join  in  an  expedition  he  had  sent  for  the  reduc- 
tion of  the  Manhattan  settlements,  they  pleaded  scruples  of  con- 
science as  to  embarking  in  foreign  wars,  and  stated  it  was  more 
agreeable  to  the  Gospel  of  Peace,  which  they  professed,  and 
safest  for  the  provinces,  to  forbear  the  use  of  the  sword ;  but  to 
show  their  respect  for  his  Highness  the  Protector,  and  their  grat- 
itude to  God  for  having  raised  him  to  supreme  authority,  that  all 
the  churches  may  find  rest,  they  gave  permission  to  the  com- 
manders of  his  forces  to  enlist  Jive  hundred  volunteers  within 
the  state,  provided  the  said  recruits  were  severally  free  from 
legal  disabilities.  Although  they  had  thus  artfully  evaded  com- 
pliance with  his  order  in  a  matter  that  would  have  established  a 
dangerous  precedent,  they  cheerfully  admitted  the  lawfulness  of 
his  power  in  the  mother  country,  and  a  day  was  set  apart  for 
public  thanksgiving  to  Divine  Providence  "  for  the  hopeful  estab- 
lishment of  a  government  in  England." 

Much  stress  has  been  laid  in  this  work  on  the  importance  to 
be  attached  to  the  character  and  feeling  of  the-early  settlers  of  a 
country,  and  the  necessity  of  giving  due  weight  to  such  a  consid- 
eration is  well  illustrated  by  the  different  conduct  at  this  critical 
period  of  Massachusetts,  which  was  peopled  by  Puritans,  and 
Virginia  and  other  colonies,  to  which  Churchmen  and  the  friends 
of  the  monarchy  resorted.  We  have  seen  that  the  former  dis- 
countenanced the  royal  partisans  within  her  borders,  and  sent 
agents  to  England  with  secret  instructions  to  forward  the  rebel- 
lion. The  latter,  together  with  Barbadoes,  Antigua,  and  Ber- 
muda, adhered  to  the  king,  even  while  in  exile.  Virginia  had  a 
population  of  twenty  thousand,  and  was  determined  to  resist  the 
usurpation  of  the  rebel  forces.  Observing  that  wherever  the  In- 
dependents settled,  they  sowed  the  seeds  of  republicanism,  they 
passed  severe  laws  against  them,  in  order  to  rid  themselves  of 
sucli  troublesome  inmates.  Driven  from  thence,  they  settled  in 
Maryland,  which  had  soon  reason  to  repent  of  her  hospitality. 
"  They  were  as  much  refreshed  with  their  entertainment  in 
Maryland,"  quaintly  observes  a  contemporaneous  author,  "  as  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  83 

snake  in  the  fable  was  with  the  countryman's  breast,  for  which 
they  were  equally  thankful." 

They  began  to  pick  quarrels  first  with  the  Papists,  next  with 
the  oath  of  fidelity,  and  lastly,  they  declared  their  averseness  to 
all  conformity,  wholly  aiming,  as  themselves  since  confessed,  to 
"  deprive  the  Lord  Proprietors  of  that  country,  and  to  make  it 
their  own." 

Virginia  also  offered  at  the  same  time  an  asylum  to  the  loyal- 
ists who  fled  from  the  proscriptions  and  unrelenting  cruelty  of 
the  republican  forces.  They  went  so  far  as  to  propose  to  their 
exiled  prince  to  take  refuge  among  them,  instead  of  seeking  pro- 
tection from  a  foreign  power.  Charles  II.,  on  his  part,  sent  from 
Breda  a  new  commission  to  the  faithful  governor  of  that  true- 
hearted  people,  in  which  he  declared  it  to  be  his  purpose  to  rule 
them  according  to  the  laws  of  England.  At  the  same  time,  he 
recommended  them  to  build  forts  for  preventing  internal  rebellion 
or  foreign  aggression.  Enraged  at  the  devotion  of  these  loyal 
colonies,  an  order  was  passed  by  the  Parliament,  empowering  the 
Council  to  reduce  the  refractory  plantations  to  obedience,  and 
enacting  that  foreign  ships  should  not  trade  at  any  of  the  ports 
of  these  four  malignant  provinces — Barbadoes,  Antigua,  Ber- 
muda, and  Virginia. 

Massachusetts  on  this  occasion  exhibited  her  usual  skill.  She 
re-enacted  the  law  against  the  malignants,  and  prohibited  all 
intercourse  with  Virginia  until  she  acknowledged  the  supremacy 
of  the  commonwealth.  This  was  done  with  the  double  view  of 
gratifying  the  Protector,  and  of  escaping  from  the  inference  that 
any  legislation  was  binding  upon  her  but  that  of  the  General 
Court.  Cromwell  was  not  a  man  to  content  himself  with  a 
paper  war.  In  the  ordinance  relative  to  the  prohibition  of  their 
trade,  he  used  language  which  showed  how  deeply  he  felt  the 
opposition  of  the  loyalists,  and  gave  a  sure  presage  of  vigorous 
measures.  In  that  extraordinary  act,  he  calls  them  notorious 
robbers  and  traitors,  and  adds  that  as  the  colonies  were  settled 
by  and  at  the  cost  of  England,  they  ought  to  obey  her  laws. 
To  enforce  a  submission  which  threats  could  not  extort,  he  dis- 
patched Admiral  Ascue  with  a  powerful  armament.  He  was 
instructed  to  use,  in  the  first  instance,  peaceable  means  to  bring 
the  people  to  obedience,  but  if  they  should  prove  unsuccessful,  to 
employ  hostility,  setting  free  such  servants  and  slaves  as  would 


84  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

fight  against  their  masters,  and  causing  justice  to  be  adminis- 
tered in  the  name  of  the  commonwealth. 

The  force  thus  sent  against  the  royalists  was  too  powerful  for 
the  undisciplined  planters,  and  when  the  Governor  Berkelly,  who 
had  made  every  possible  exertion  to  defend  the  country,  capitu- 
lated, it  was  upon  very  favorable  terms,  that  were  as  satisfactory 
to  his  sovereign,  as  they  were  honorable  to  his  own  skill  and 
courage. 

A  variety  of  circumstances  now  contributed  to  the  adoption  of 
a  policy,  and  the  passing  laws  in  pursuance  thereof,  which  has 
exercised  a  most  powerful  influence  on  the  fortunes  of  the  mother 
country,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  statesmen  are  not  yet  agreed, 
and  mainly  contributed  in  various  ways-to  produce  the  American 
Revolution.  It  was  the  era  of  the  navigation  laws.  Alarmed 
at  the  diminution  of  English  commerce,  and  the  great  increase  of 
that  of  the  colonies  as  well  as  of  the  north,  while  Cromwell 
protected  his  own  and  humbled  a  rival,  he  managed  to  punish 
the  loyal  plantations,  and  make  them  pay  tribute  for  disobedience. 
With  this  view  two  acts  were  framed,  one  of  which  expressly 
prohibited  all  mercantile  intercourse  between  the  transatlantic 
provinces  and  foreign  states,  and  the  other  ordained  that  no  pro- 
duction of  Asia,  Africa,  or  America,  should  be  imported  into  the 
dominions  of  the  commonwealth  but  in  vessels  belonging  to 
British  owners,  or  to  the  people  of  the  colonies,  and-  navigated  by 
an  English  commander,  and  by  crews  the  greater  part  of  whom 
were  to  be  subjects  of  the  realm,  for  foreigners  were  also  precluded 
from  bringing  to  England  any  thing  but  the  produce  of  their  own 
respective  countries,  or  those  of  which  they  were  the  staples.  At 
first  this  created  more  alarm  than  annoyance.  As  far  as  the 
Provincials  were  concerned,  they  evaded  or  disregarded  it,  while 
it  increased  their  carrying  trade  by  transferring  to  them  a  part  of 
that  enjoyed  by  the  f)utch.  The  ground  work,  however,  was 
securely  laid  for  the  vast  superstructure  erected  upon  it  after  the 
Restoration. 

Although  the  colonial  Puritans  had  never  yielded  that  sub- 
mission, either  to  the  Parliament  or  to  Cromwell,  which  the 
Protector  thought  was  due  from  all  parts  of  the  empire,  they 
nevertheless  managed  to  keep  on  the  best  possible  terms  with 
them.  They  omitted  no  occasion  of  soothing  their  vanity,  for 
which  they  had  an  insatiable  appetite.  To  the  former  they  said 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  85 

(and  I  insert  their  own  words  as  their  participation  in  the  re- 
bellion is  now  stoutly  denied) — "  And  for  our  carriage  and  de- 
meanor to  the  honorable  Parliament,  for  these  ten  years,  since 
the  first  beginning  of  your  differences  with  the  late  King,  and  the 
warre  that  after  ensued,  we  have  constantly  adhered  to  you,  not 
withdrawn  ourselves  in  your  weakest  condition,  and  doubtfullest 
times,  but  by  our  fasting  and  prayers  for  your  good  success,  and 
our  thanksgiving  after  the  same  was  attained  in  days  of  solemnity 
set  apart  for  the  purpose,  as  also  by  our  sending  over  useful  men 
(others  alsoe  going  voluntarily  from  us  to  help  you),  who  have 
been  of  good  use  and  done  good  and  acceptable  service  to  the 
army*  declaring  to  the  world  hereby,  that  such  was  the  duty 
and  love  we  beare  unto  the  Parliament,  that  we  were  ready  to 
rise  and  fall  with  them,  for  which  we  have  suffered  the  hatred 
and  threats  of  other  English  colonies  now  in  rebellion  against 
you,  as  alsoe  the  loss  of  divers  of  our  shippes  and  goods  taken  by 
the  King's  party  that  is  dead,  by  others  commissioned  by  the 
King  of  Scotts,  and  by  the  Portugales." 

They  had  heard  from  Cromwell's  officers  that  he  had  a  sore 
spot  on  his  conscience,  and  they  knew  how  to  soothe,  if  they 
could  not  heal  it.  They  were  aware  from  the  agitation  of  mind 
that  he  occasionally  suffered  on  the  subject  of  the  king's  death, 
that  nothing  was  so  acceptable  to  him  as  to  hear  others,  whose 
judgment  he  respected,  approve  of  the  deed  as  a  necessary  act  of  jus- 
tice. Availing  themselves  of  these  scruples,  which  at  times  threw 
him  into  the  deepest  gloom,  the  Puritan  divines  of  New  England 
occasionally  gratified  him  with  an  epistle,  expressive  of  their 
entire  concurrence  in  the  reasoning  that  led  to  that  foul  murder. 
Mr.  Cotton,  one  of  tjje  most  distinguished  ministers,  thus  ad- 
dressed him,  in  a  letter  dated  Boston,  28th  day,  5th  month,  1767. 
"  There  are  three  or  four  principles  on  which  you  have  acted, 
wherein  my  judgment  hath  been  fully  satisfied.  1st.  The  con- 
cessions of  the  late  King  never  were  such  as  to  insure  a  safe 
peace  either  to  Church  or  Commonwealth.  2d.  When  the 
Parliament,  assisted  by  the  Commissioners  from  Scotland  was 

*  These  italicised  words  refer  to  the  mission  of  Peters  and  others.  Besides 
many  who  served  as  soldiers,  and  several  who  attained  subordinate  command, 
the  following  names  of  colonial  officers  who  fought  under  Cromwell  have  snr 
vived :  Colonel  Cook,  Lieutenant-Colonel  Stoughton,  Major  Bourne,  Captain 
Leverete,  Ensign  Hudson,  and  Dr.  Liol,  who  acted  as  regimental  surgeon 
Winthrop  says  they  did  good  service,  and  f^re  well  approved. 


86  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

full,  and  agreed  that  the  King  could  not  be  restored  to  his  former 
estate,  if  it  afterward  voted  contrary,  it  was  prevarication,  and 
therefore  I  know  not  how  the  army  could  have  better  proved  its 
faithfulness  to  the  State  and  cause,  than  by  purging  it  of  such 
corrupt  humors,  and  presenting  the  King  to  public  tried.  Joab, 
the  General  of  David's  host,  though  he  went  beyond  his  commis- 
sion in  putting  Absalom  to  death,  yet  he  went  not  beyond  his 
fidelity.  These  things  are  so  clear  to  my  apprehension  that  I  am 
fully  satisfied  that  you  have  all  this  while  fought  the  Lord's 
battles.  In  like  frame  are  the  spirits  of  our  brethren,  the  elders 
and  churches  in  these  parts." 

For  this  he  evinced  the  warmest  gratitude,  and  offered  to  give 
them  Jamaica,  and  transport  them  thither,  or  settle  them  all  in 
Ireland  on  confiscated  estates.  In  his  turn  he  flattered  their 
sectarian  pride.  He  represented  to  them  what  a  blow  it  would 
be  to  the  "  Man  of  Sin,"  to  have  a  pure-minded  and  holy  body 
of  men  like  them  established  in  such  a  country  as  the  former, 
where  his  sway  had  been  so  great.  He  told  them  the  children 
of  the  Lord  were  entitled  to  a  paradise  for  their  abode,  like  that 
beautiful  island,  and  drew  a  glowing  picture  of  the  fortunes 
people  of  their  habits  of  sobriety  and  industry,  would  derive  from 
a  change  of  residence.  In  Ireland  he  promised  them  the  lands 
of  the  heathen  for  an  heritage,  and  in  either  or  both,  his  continued 
patronage  and  support.  They  had,  however,  other  and  more 
practical  views.  They  dreaded,  not  only  the  unwholesomeness 
of  a  tropical  climate,  but  its  inevitable  effect  in  the  course  of  time 
on  the  morals  and  manners  of  the  people.  If  they  were  to  accept 
Ireland  they  would  have  to  surrender  their  independence,  and  by 
returning  to  the  undoubted  jurisdiction  of  „ the  supreme  power  in 
England,  they  might  be  again  called  upon  to  conform,  to  suffer, 
or  to  migrate.  They  felt  safe  in  their  distant  flight,  and  were 
unwilling  to  move. 

But  perilous  times  now  awaited  the  republic.  There  were 
strong  indications,  it  was  said,  of  a  reaction  in  England.  Their 
friend  and  advocate  Oliver  Cromwell  was  dead,  and  his  son  gave 
no  evidence  of  sufficient  vigor  to  fill  the  place  of  his  father,  either 
in  the  eyes  of  the  nation  or  the  estimation  of  Europe.  Cant  was 
fast  going  out  of  fashion,  and  mankind  had  learned  the  useful 
lesson,  that  he  who  has  ever  religion  in  his  mouth  has  seldom 
much  of  it  in  his  heart.  Those  who  were  sincere  in  their  con- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  87 

victions,  and  had  abstained  from  deeds  of  violence,  looked  on  the 
coming  change  with  the  calmness  and  fimness  of  true  courage, 
while  such  as  had  been  hurried  by  their  zeal  into  criminal  acts, 
or  had  concealed"  rapine  and  murder  under  a  cloak  of  hypocrisy, 
fled  in  terror  and  dismay. 

Among  those  who  sought  shelter  and  oblivion  in  the  wilds  of 
America,  were  two  of  the  regicides,  GofFe  and  Whalley.  Find- 
ing the  restoration  inevitable,  they  left  London  early  in  May,  and 
arrived  in  Boston  in  the  month  of  July  following,  in  the  full 
expectation  of  being  either  protected  or  concealed  among  the 
brethren,  who  in  general  agreed  with  them  in  opinion  that  "  kill- 
ing was  no  murder,"  when  the  person  to  suffer  was  a  tyrant 
who  thought  Romanists  were  entitled  to  as  much  indulgence  as 
themselves,  and  Churchmen,  as  members  of  the  established  relig- 
ion, to  more  favors  than  either.  Nor  were  they  disappointed  in 
their  reasonable  expectations.  They  were  cordially  received  and 
hospitably  entertained  by  the  governor,  the  officers  of  the  state, 
and  the  principal  inhabitants  ;  and  on  one  occasion,  when  a 
royalist  dared  to  apply  to  them  the  homely  epithet  to  which  they 
had  so  well  entitled  themselves  by  their  atrocious  crime,  the 
magistrates  bound  the  offender  over  to  keep  the  peace,  and 
severely  reprimanded  him  for  insulting  their  distinguished  visitors, 
by  imputing  to  them  as  an  offense  that  which,  if  not  a  virtuous 
and  patriotic  deed,  was  at  least  a  stern  necessity.  The  meeting- 
houses were  every  where  opened  to  them,  and  they  attended 
divine  service  on  Sundays,  and  observed  the  fasts  and  public 
thanksgiving  as  established  by  law.  The  sacrament  was  ad- 
ministered to  them  as  worthy  communicants,  and  the  saints 
were  edified  by  the  exercise  of  their  great  gifts  in  praying  and  lec- 
turing, as  they  raised  their  hands,  dyed  with  the  blood  of  their 
sovereign,  and  enlarged  on  the  necessity  of  forgiveness  of  sins, 
brotherly  love,  and  good- will  to  all  men. 

The  king's  proclamation  exempting  these  criminals  from  the 
amnesty,  though  it  did  not  disturb  the  consistency  of  the  Puri- 
tans, awakened  their  fears  lest  their  contumacy  in  harboring 
traitors  might  draw  down  upon  them  the  forfeiture  of  their  char- 
ter, which  of  all  their  earthly  possessions,  had  the  greatest  hold 
on  the  affection  of  their  hearts.  Intimation  was  therefore  given 
them  to  withdraw  from  view  for  the  present,  till  the  storm  of 
popular  indignation  in  England  should  blow  over,  and  instruc- 


88  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

tions  were  privately  furnished  them  to  proceed  to  the  minister's 
house  at  New  Haven,  while  diligent  search  would  he  made  for 
them  in  such  places  as  it  was  well  known  they  would  not  be 
found.  After  a  suitable  time  for  escape  had  been  allowed  to 
elapse,  the  colonial  rulers  preserved  appearances  by  affecting 
great  zeal  for  capturing  them,  and  a  warrant  was  accordingly 
issued  for  their  apprehension.  To  avoid  even  the  semblance  of 
partiality,  instead  of  intrusting  it  to  their  own  officers,  who 
might  be  supposed  willing  to  favor  their  concealment,  it  was 
directed  to  two  Englishmen,*  recently  arrived  from  Europe, 
zealous  loyalists  and  rank  Episcopalians,  who  only  required  a 
knowledge  of  the  country,  and  the  sympathy  of  the  population  in 
their  errand,  to  have  succeeded  in  their  enterprise.  Duped  by 
the  apparent  earnestness  of  the  governor,  and  the  full  and 
minute  directions  they  received  as  to  the  best  route  to  adopt  in 
their  search,  and  misled  by  the  well-feigned  ignorance  and  aston- 
ishment of  every  one  to  whom  they  addressed  themselves  for  in- 
formation, they  prosecuted  their  fruitless  errand,  to  the  inex- 
pressible amusement  of  the  court,  to  whom  a  practical  joke,  from 
the  gravity  of  manner  they  were  continually  compelled  to  ob- 
serve, was  a  luxury  which  they  rarely  had  an  opportunity  of 
enjoying.t  , 

Having  traveled  as  far  as  the  Hudson,  they  relinquished  the 
pursuit  as  hopeless,  and  returned  to  report  their  failure  to  the 
governor,  who  very  gravely  informed  them  that  they  had  been 
seen  near  New  Haven  ;  from  which  he  inferred  that  they  must 
have  entered  the  Manhattan  settlement,  and  escaped  to  the  low 
countries ;  and  recommended  them  by  all  means  to  go  to  Hol- 
land, and  continue  their  search,  which,  as  the  country  was  not 
covered  by  an  interminable  forest,  like  America,  could  scarcely 
fail  of  being  crowned  with  success. 

During  all  this  time,  the  fugitives  were  minutely  informed  of 
all  that  took  place.;  and,  in  order  to  relieve  their  hospitable 
friend,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Davenport,  from  any  imputation  on  their 
account,  they  prepared  a  cave  in  the  side  of  a  hill,  having  a 

*  Thomas  Kellond  and  Thomas  Kirk,  whom  they  not  inappropriately  called 
Tom  fools. 

t  Now  and  then  a  little  dry  humor  would  leak  oat  in  spite  of  themselves.  A 
mechanic,  having-  charged  the  Government  £2  13s.  4d.  for  a  pair  of  stocks,  was 
ordered  to  be  put  into  them  himself  for  an  hour,  to  test  the  strength  of  his  work, 
and  was  fined  JE5  for  extortion. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AM  ERIC  A.  89 

small  aperture  to  admit  air  and  light,  and  so  contrived  as  to  be 
effectually  concealed  by  the  thick  brushwood  that  overhung  its 
precipitous  banks.  To  this  they  gave  the  name  of  Providence 
Hill,  and  resorted  to  it  occasionally  in  times  of  danger,  when  a 
residence  among  their  friends  was  either  inconvenient  or  unsafe. 

At  last,  a  party  of  Indians  having  accidentally  discovered  their 
retreat,  they  removed  to  a  town  called  Hadley,  about  a  hundred 
miles  distant,  resting  by  day,  and  traveling  by  night,  in  order  to 
avoid  being  traced  thither. 

They  were  received  at  this  place  by  the  minister,  and  contin- 
ued there  fifteen  or  sixteen  years,  or  until  their  decease,  enjoying 
the  sympathy  of  such  of  the  inhabitants  as  were  intrusted  with 
their  secret,  the  liberal  contributions  of  their  friends  at  home  and 
abroad,  and  on  one  occasion  the  guilty  pleasure  of  the  society  of 
another  of  their  associates  in  crime,  Colonel  Dixwell,  who,  hav- 
ing been  less  obnoxious  than  they,  and  more  fortunate  in  his 
disguises,  had  not  only  avoided  detection,  but  had  wholly  es- 
caped suspicion,  and  was  at  large  under  the  assumed  name  of 
Davis. 

A  singular  incident,  connected  with  Goffe,  has  been  tradition- 
ally preserved  in  the  family  of  Governor  Leveret,  and  is  thus 
quaintly  related  by  a  historian  of  this  early  time  : 

"  The  town  of  Hadley  was  alarmed  by  the  Indians,  in  1575, 
in  the  time  of  public  worship,  and  the  people  were  in  the  utmost 
confusion.  Suddenly  a  grave,  elderly  person  appeared  in  the 
midst  of  them.  In  his  mien,  he  differed  from  the  rest  of  the 
people.  He  not  only  encouraged  them  to  defend  themselves,  but 
put  himself  at  their  head  ;  rallied,  instructed,  and  led  them  on 
to  encounter  the  enemy,  who  in  this  way  were  repulsed.  As 
suddenly  the  deliverer  of  Hadley  disappeared.  The  people  were 
left  in  consternation,  utterly  unable  to  account  for  this  strange 
phenomenon."  It  was  not  probable  (the  apologists  say)  that 
they  were  ever  able  to  explain  it.  If  Goffe  had  there  discovered 
himself,  it  must  have  come  to  the  knowledge  of  those  persons 
who  declared  by  their  letters  that  they  never  knew  what  became 
of  him. 

Both  these  men  were  of  low  origin  and  mean  education,  and 
emerged  from  obscurity  only  by  their  daring  courage,  and  their 
unscrupulous  obedience  to  the  bidding  of  the  Protector.  Whal- 
ley  had  risen  to  the  rank  of  lieutenant,  and  Goffe  to  that  of 


90  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

major-general  in  the  rebel  army,*  and  upon  the  latter  devolved 
the  task  of  expelling  the  members  of  Parliament  from  the  House, 
and  of  executing  commands  of  a  similar  violent  character.  They 
died  as  they  lived,  in  the  full  belief  of  that  fatal  doctrine,  that 
the  end  justifies  the  means  :  and  afforded  by  their  crimes,  their 
cruelty,  and  their  impenitence,  an  instructive  lesson  to  fanatics 
that  the  religion  of  the  head  but  too  often  hardens  the  heart ; 
that  speculative  theories  have  a  natural  tendency  to  obliterate 
the  distinctions  between  right  and  wrong,  by  withdrawing  our 
attention  from  the  practical  obligations  of  life ;  and  that  the 
stern  virtues  inculcated  by  Scripture  are  accompanied,  sur- 
rounded, and  supported  by  the  Christian  graces  of  mildness, 
meekness,  and  charity,  and  a  numerous  train  of  social  and  rela- 
tive duties. 

As  at  the  fall  of  Charles  I.  the  conduct  of  the  Puritans  of 
Massachusetts  differed  widely  from  that  of  loyal  Virginia,  so  did 
the  death  of  Cromwell  also  affect  them  in  an  equally  opposite 
manner.  In  the  latter  place,  as  soon  as  they  had  heard  of  the 
decease  of  the  usurper,  without  waiting  for  news  from  England 
of  their  sovereign's  movements,  they  immediately  proclaimed 
him,  subverted  the  authority,  to  which  they  had  so  reluctantly 
submitted,  and  recalled  from  retirement  their  former  governor, 
and  invested  him  with  the  chief  command,  thus  securing  to 
themselves  the  double  honor  of  being  the  last  to  lay  down  their 
arms,  and  the  first  to  re-assume  them,  in  the  defense  of  their  king. 
In  the  former  colony  they  would  not  or  could  not  believe  that 
Providence  would  ever  suffer  him  to  sit  upon  the  throne  of  his 
ancestors,  even  after  they  received  a  copy  of  his  proclamation. 
A*rnotion  for  an  address  to  him  was  put  and  lost  in  the  General 
Court.  When  they  called  to  rnind  the  part  they  had  taken  in 
the  rebellion,  and  the  infamous  conduct  of  their  agent,  Peters, 
their  official  and  private  letters  to  Cromwell,  their  own  procla- 
mation against  the  king's  adherents,  their  acts  against  Virginia, 
their  continual  disobedience  and  disloyalty  to  his  royal  father,  the 
reception  and  protection  they  had  given  the  regicides,  they  were 
overwhelmed  with  doubts  and  fears  as  to  the  future.  The  re- 
sistance which  their  ministers  had  recommended  to  them  on  a 
former  occasion,  they  knew  would  be  unavailing  against  so  pow- 
erful a  monarch  as  Charles  II.,  they  therefore  resorted  to  the 

*  The  well-known  Richard  Baxter  was  chaplain  to  Whalley's  regiment. 


THE   KNGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  91 

other  alternative,  "  evasion  and  delay."  They  first  ventured  to 
feel  their  way  by  an  address,  containing  the  following  extraor- 
dinary passage : 

"  Sir,  we  lie  not  before  your  sacred  Majesty.  The  Lord  God 
of  Gods  knoweth,  and  Israel  he  shall  know,  if  it  were  in  rebellion 
or  in  schism  that  we  willingly  left  our  dwellings  in  our  own 
country  for  dwellings  in  this  strange  land,  save  us  not  this  day. 
Royal  Sir,  your  just  title  to  the  crown  enthroneth  you  in  our  con- 
sciences, your  graciousness  in  our  affections ;  that  inspires  unto 
duty,  this  naturalize th  unto  loyalty.  Hence  we  call  you  lord, 
hence  a  saviour.  Mephibosheth  rejoices  that  the  king  hath  come 
again  to  his  house.  The  truth  is,  such  were  the  impressions  upon 
our  spirits  as  transcends  the  faculty  of  an  eremitical  scribe.  A 
desert  condition  in  some  sense  is  an  object  fittest  to  magnify  prince- 
ly radiance,  inferior  whereof  can  not  make  the  wilderness  rejoice. 
Opaque  bodies  occasion  the  most  luculent  reflections.  Affection 
makes  a  rhetorician  Croesus'  dumb  son  speak  to  prevent  misery, 
and  Zedekiah's  tongue  breaketh  loose  to  acknowledge  mercy. 
Warm  with  the  influence  of  your  royal  favor,  we,  by  way  of  con- 
gratulation, comforted  ourselves  that  the  breath  of  our  nostrils, 
the  anointed  of  the  Lord,  hath  escaped :  of  whom  we  begin  to 
say,  under  his  shadow  we  shall  live  among  the  heathen." 

The  absurdity  and  extravagance  of  this  language  is  thus  grave- 
ly defended  by  Bancroft  :  "  The  spirit  that  breathes  through  it 
is  republican.  The  style  of  hyperbole  is  borrowed  from  the  man- 
ners of  the  East,  so  familiar  from  the  study  of  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures." 

The  truth  of  these  protestations,  so  solemnly  made,  was  well 
attested  by  the  manner  in  which  Charles  was  proclaimed.  This 
ceremony  had  been  deferred,  from  a  natural  repugnance  to  ac- 
knowledge him  at  all;  but,  in  August,  1661,  the  aspect  of  af- 
fairs was  so  alarming,  it  was  thought  prudent  to  propitiate  him, 
by  complying  with  this  usual  and  constitutional  practice.  To 
the  act  itself  there  could  be  no  objection ;  the  difficulty  lay  in  so 
carefully  conducting  their  proceedings,  and  in  so  wording  the  pub- 
lic document,  as  riot  to  admit  him,  in  express  language,  to  have 
any  authority  in  Massachusetts,  beyond  that  of  a  temporal  prince, 
with  whose  ancestors  they  had  entered  into  a  compact,  whereby, 
for  himself  and  his  heirs,  he  had  surrendered  the  territory,  com- 
prised within  certain  specified  limits,  on  the  nominal  condition  of 


92  THE   ENGLISH   IN  AMERICA. 

receiving  a  fifth  of  the  produce  of  all  silver  and  gold  mines.  Ac- 
cordingly a  number  of  forms  were  proposed  and  discussed,  but 
were  severally  rejected,  as  admitting  too  much  by  words  or  by 
implication,  until,  at  last,  the  following  extraordinary  one  was 
adopted,  as  the  shortest,  simplest,  and  safest  that  they  could  sug- 
gest :  "Forasmuch,  as  Charles  II.  is  undoubtedly  king  of  Great 
Britain,  and  all  other  his  Majesty's  territories  and  dominions, 
thereunto  belonging,  and  hath  been  some  time  since  lawfully  pro- 
claimed and  crowned  accordingly  ;  we  therefore,  do,  as  in  duty 
we  are  bound,  own  and  acknowledge  him  to  be  our  sovereign 
Lord  and  King  ;  and  do,  therefore,  hereby  proclaim  and  declare 
his  sacred  Majesty,  Charles  II.,  to  be  lawful  king  of  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  and  all  other  the  territories  there- 
unto belonging.  God  save  the  King." 

It  is  observable  that  his  Majesty  is  here  described  as  king  of 
Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland,  and  all  other  the  territories 
thereunto  belonging,  which  term  is  satisfied  by  the  Orkneys  and 
Channel  Islands  ;  but  no  mention  is  made  of  America,  Massachu- 
setts, or  the  words  colonies  or  plantations.  Brief  and  cold,  how- 
ever, as  this  declaration  was,  it  was  adopted  with  great  repug- 
nance, and  the  day  passed  in  ominous  gloom.  An  order  of  the 
Court  was  issued  at  the  same  time,  and  posted  up  in  various 
parts  of  Boston,  forbidding  all  disorderly  behavior  on  the  occa- 
sion, declaring  that  no  person  might  expect  indulgence  for  the 
breach  of  any  law,  and,  "  in  a  particular  manner,  that  no  man 
should  presume  to  drink  his  Majesty's  health,  which  he  has  in  an 
especial  manner  forbidden." 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

The  King  appoints  a  Council  for  the  Colonies — Their  Advice — Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island  send  Agents,  who  obtain  for  them  Charters  containing  fall  Pow- 
ers of  Self-goVernment — Navigation  Laws — They  fall  heavily  on  Virginia,  and 
alarm  all  the  Provincials — The  General  Court  publishes  a  Declaration  of 
Rights — Their  Reasoning  as  to  the  Origin  of  their  Title  to  the  Country — They 
send  Agents  to  England — Instruction  given  to  them,  and  Letters  of  Introduc- 
tion to  Noblemen  of  Low  Church  or  Dissenting  principles — They  meet  with 
a  favorable  Reception,  and  return  with  a  Letter  from  the  King  requiring  cer- 
tain Changes  in  their  L  aws  and  Modes  of  Procedure — An  affected  Show  of 
Compliance — Dissipation  of  Churchmen,  of  Baptists,  and  especially  of  Quak- 
ers— Severe  Treatment  of  latter — A  Commission  of  Inquiry  issues  to  Colonel 
Nichols  and  others — Their  Instructions — General  Court  orders  the  Charter  to 
be  put  into  a  Place  of  Concealment — Prepares  to  receive  the  Commissioners. 

THE  convention  Parliament  had  scarcely  adjourned,  when 
Charles  II.  performed  the  promise  he  had  made  at  parting,  and 
endeavored  to  carry  into  effect  the  various  acts  of  a  foreign  and 
domestic  nature  they  had  made.  He  established,  in  December, 
1660,  a  council  for  the  general  superintendence  of  the  colonies, 
and  enforcing  the  laws  of  trade.  Had  he  always  acted  upon  their 
suggestions,  he  would  have  saved  his  own  reputation,  and  spared 
himself  and  his  successors  many  vexations  and  annoyances. 
They  urged  him  "  to  agree  with  such  as  have  any  property  in  his 
plantations,  and  take  the  same  into  his  own  hands,  in  order  to 
prevent  the  granting  any  for  the  future."  Sir  William  Berkeley, 
the  old  and  loyal  Governor  of  Virginia,  repeated  the  same  recom- 
mendation, most  truly  foretelling  "that  those  patents  in  the  next 
age  will  be  found  more  advanfageous  to  the  crown  than  is  per- 
ceptible in  this." 

Notwithstanding  this  judicious  advice,  and  the  pending  diffi- 
culties and  controversies,  he  at  once  made  two  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary grants,  of  a  pure,  unmixed,  and  unrestrained  democracy, 
that  were  ever  issued  by  any  monarch.  The  constitution  of 
Massachusetts,  it  was  well  known,  was  an  usurpation — the 
application  of  a  local  charter,  by  a  company  in  London,  for  the 
purposes  of  civil  government  in  America ;  but  these  were  bond 
fide  concessions,- no  deception  was  practiced,  no  information  with- 


94  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

held.  Republicanism  was  asked,  and  obtained.  Connecticut 
and  Rhode  Island  having  favors  to  seek,  were  more  prompt  in 
proclaiming  the  king  than  Massachusetts,  and  at  once  sent 
delegates  to  congratulate  him  on  his  restoration,  and  to  solicit 
charters.  On  their  arrival  in  England  they  were  introduced  to 
some  Low  Churchmen,  of  rank  and  influence,  in  whom  they 
found  most  active  partisans.  Men  whose  lives  are  chiefly  spent 
in  making  professions,  are  seldom  able  to  find  sufficient  time  to 
practice  what  they  so  loudly  extol.  Their  sectarian  sympathy 
was  stronger  than  their  loyalty,  and  the  interest  of  the  king  and 
the  nation  were  transferred,  by  hypocritical  politicians,  into  the 
hands  of  crafty  republicans.  The  charters  they  obtained  for  the 
delegates,  vested  in  the  propriety  of  freemen  of  Connecticut  and 
Rhode  Island  the  right  of  admitting  new  associates,  and  of 
choosing  annually  from  among  themselves  a  governor,  magis- 
trates, and  representatives,  with  power  of  legislative  and  judicial 
authority.  No  appellative  jurisdiction,  and  no  negative  on  the 
laws,  were  reserved  to  the  crown  any  more  than  in  Massachusetts 
and  Maryland.  They  were,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  entitled 
to  self-government ;  so  much  so,  indeed,  that  these  same  royal 
patents  remained  the  basis  of  their  polity  long  after  they  became 
independent  states.  Even  the  oath  of  allegiance  was  not  required 
of  them.  The  usual  clause,  stipulating  that  their  laws  should 
be  conformable  to  those  of  England,  was  modified,  or  rendered 
nugatory  by  an  extraordinary  reference  "  to  the  constitution  of 
the  place,  and  the  nature  of  the  people."  It  granted  universal 
toleration  to  ajl  mankind,  without  limitation  to  Christian  sects. 

It  is  no  wonder  the  joy  of  the  Provincials  knew  no  bounds. 
The  grant  exceeded  their  fondest  and  most  ardent  hopes.  In 
Rhode  Island  the  inhabitants  were  assembled  "  for  its  solemn 
reception."  The  Charter  was  read  in  the  audience  and  view  of 
all  the  inhabitants,  and  the  letters  with  his  Majesty's  royal  stamp 
and  the  broad-seal,  with  much  beseeming  gravity,  were  held  up 
on  high,  and  presented  to  the  "  perfect  view  of  the  people."  So 
completely  had  the  king  denuded  himself  of  all  power,  that  in  a 
subsequent  reign,  when  the  Rhode  Islanders  claimed  the  protec- 
tion and  interference  of  the  sovereign  against  the  oppressions  of 
their  own  legislature,  arising  from  frauds  practiced  on  them  in  a 
depreciated  currency,  that  monarch  replied,  under  the  advice  of 
the  Crown  officers,  that  he  could, afford  them  no  redress,  since  his 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  93 

misadvised  predecessor  had  relinquished  all  jurisdiction.  At  this 
period,  therefore,  New  England  consisted  of  several  little  inde- 
pendent republics. 

While  vast  concessions  were  thus  made  on  the  one  hand,  most 
extensive  restrictions  were  imposed  on  the  other,  by  extending 
and  remodeling  the  laws  of  trade.  So  much  indeed  was  added 
to  the  outline  sketched  by  the  Long  Parliament,  and  so  novel,  as 
well  as  important,  were  many  of  the  provisions  of  this  celebrated 
act  (12th  Charles  II.,  c.  18),  that  it  seerns  to  have  attracted  to 
itself  a  name  that  more  properly  belongs  to  several,  and  has  ever 
been  known  as  the  Navigation  Law.  The  avowed  motives  for 
this  restrictive  legislation,  were  thus  set  forth  :  "  That  as  the 
plantations  beyond  seas  are  inhabited  and  peopled  by  subjects  of 
England,  they  may  be  kept  in  a  firmer  dependence  upon  it,  and 
rendered  yet  more  beneficial  and  advantageous  in  the  further 
employment  and  increase  of  English  shipping  and  seamen,  as 
well  as  in  the  vent  of  woolen  and  other  manufactures  and  com- 
modities, and  in  making  England  a  staple  not  only  of  the  produc- 
tions of  those  plantations,  but  also  of  those  of  other  countries,  and 
places  for  supplying  them,  and  it  being  the  usage  of  other  nations 
to  keep  the  trade  of  the  plantations  to  themselves." 

Colonial  industry  at  that  period  furnished  many  articles  for 
exportation,  but  these  were  of  two  kinds.  Some  were  raised  in 
quantities  in  America  only,  and  would  not  compete  with  British 
productions  in  the  market  of  the  mother  country  :  these  were 
enumerated,  and  it  was  declared  that  none  of  them,  that  is,  no 
sugar,  tobacco,  ginger,  indigo,  cotton,  fustic,  and  dyeing  woods,  shall 
be  transported  to  any  other  country  than  those  belonging  to  the 
Crown  of  England,  under  penalty  of  forfeiture  ;  and  as  new  ar- 
ticles of  industry  of  this  class  grew  up  in  America,  they  were 
added  to  the  list.  But  such  other  commodities  as  the  English 
merchant  might  not  find  convenient  to  buy,  the  Provincials  might 
ship  to  foreign  markets,  and  the  further  off  the  better,  because 
they  would  thus  interfere  less  with  the  trade  which  was  carried 
on  in  England.  The  colonists  were  therefore  confined  to  ports 
south  of  Finisterre.  Soon  after  the  act  of  navigation  was  ex- 
tended, and  additional  restraints  imposed,  by  prohibiting  the  im- 
portation of  any  European  commodities  into  the  colonies  but  what 
was  laden  in  England  in  vessels  navigated  and  manned  according 
to  law.  Effectual  provision  was  also  made  for  exacting  the 


96  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

penalties  to  which  the  transgressors  were  subjected.  By  these 
successive  regulations,  the  plan  of  securing  to  England  a  monopoly 
of  the  commerce  with  her  colonies,  and  of  closing  every  other 
channel  into  which  it  might  be  diverted,  was  perfected  and 
reduced  into  a  complete  system. 

These  acts  filled  the  Provincials  with  consternation  and  anger, 
and  by  calling  into  question  the  right  of  the  Imperial  Legislature 
to  pass  them,  materially  extended  the  disaffection  which  neglect, 
the  constant  changes  in  the  government  of  the  mother  country, 
and  the  spread  of  democratic  principles  had  of  late  so  much  en- 
gendered. They  fell  with  peculiar  weight  upon  Virginia,  on 
account  of  the  nature  of  her  productions,  and  were  felt  to  be  an 
ungrateful  return  for  her  tried"  loyalty  and  affection.  Great 
Britain  never  afterward  thoroughly  regained  her  affections ;  as 
soon  as  they  went  into  operation,  that  colony  remonstrated  against 
them  as  a  grievance,  and  petitioned  earnestly  for  relief.  But  the 
commercial  ideas  of  Charles  and  his  ministers  coincided  so  .per- 
fectly with  those  of  Parliament,  that  instead  of  listening  with  a 
favorable  ear  to  their  application,  they  labored  assiduously  to  carry 
the  acts  into  strict  execution.  For  this  purpose  the  most  positive 
instructions  were  issued  to  the  governor,  forts  were  built  on  the 
banks  of  the  principal  rivers,  and  small  vessels  appointed  to  cruise 
on  the  coast. 

The  Virginians  seeing  no  prospect  of  obtaining  exemption, 
sought  relief  in  evasion,  and  found  means,  notwithstanding  the 
vigilance  with  which  they  were  watched,  of  carrying  on  a  con- 
siderable clandestine  trade  with  foreigners,  particularly  with  the 
Dutch  settled  on  the  Hudson  River.  Every  day  something 
occurred  to  revive  and  nourish  discontent.  As  it  is  with  extreme 
difficulty  that  commerce  can  be  turned  into  a  new  channel,  to- 
bacco, the  staple  of  the  colony,  sunk  prodigiously  in  value  when 
they  were  compelled  to  send  it  all  to  one  market.  It  was  some 
time  before  England  could  furnish  them  regularly  full  assortments 
of  those  necessary  articles,  without  whiQh  the  industry  of  the 
country  could  not  be  sustained  or  properly  secured.  The  sense 
of  wrong  the  people  of  Massachusetts  entertained  on  the  subject 
of  their  revenue  laws,  was  absorbed  in  the  interest  felt  in  the 
preservation  of  their  Charter,  or  mitigated  by  their  predetermina- 
tion to  resist  them  if  able,  otherwise  "  to  protract  or  evade," 
according  to  the  advice  of  their  elders.  Having  received  a  more 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  97 

gracious  answer  to  their  complimentary  letters  to  the  king  than 
they  had  expected,  and  somewhat  recovered  from  the  apprehension 
arising  from  a  review  of  their  disloyal  conduct,  they  resolved  to 
maintain  with  their  accustomed  energy  and  spirit  what  they 
conceived  to  be  their  just  claims  of  independence  under  their 
patent.  They  accordingly  -took  into  consideration  the  whole 
subject  of  their  own  powers,  and  those  of  the  Crown,  and  after 
mature  deliberation,  agreed  upon  and  published  a  declaration  of 
rights. 

I.  Concerning  our  liberties  :    1 .  We  conceive  the  patent  (under 
God)  to  be  the  first  and  main  foundation  of  our  civil  policy  here, 
by  a  Governor  and  company,  according  as  it  is  therein  expressed ; 
2.  The  Governor  and  company  are  by  the  patent  a  body  politique 
in  fact  and  name  ;  3.  This  body  politique  is  vested  with  the  power 
to  make  freemen,  &c. ;    4.  The  freemen  have  power  to  choose 
annually  a  Governor,  deputy  governor,  assistants,  and  their  select 
representatives  or  deputies ;  5.  This  government  hath  also  power 
to  set  up  all  sorts  of  officers,  superior  as  well  as  inferior,  and  point 
out  their  power  and  places ;  6.  The  Governor,  deputy  governor, 
assistants,  and  select  representatives  or  deputies,  have  full  power 
and  authority,  both  legislative  and  executive,  for  the  government 
of  all  the  people  here,  whether  inhabitants  or  strangers,  both 
concerning  ecclesiastical  and  civil  matters,  ivithoul  appeals,  ex- 
cepting law,  or  laws  repugnant  to  those  of  England ;    7.  This 
government  is  privileged  by  all  fitting  means  (yea,  if  need  be),  by 
force  of  arms  to  defend  themselves  both  by  land  and  sea,  against 
all  person,  or  persons,  as  shall  at  any  time  attempt  or  enterprise 
the  destruction,  invasion,  detriment,  or  annoyance  of  the  planta- 
tion or  the  inhabitants  therein,  besides  other  privileges  mentioned 
in  the  patent,  not  here  expressed  ;    8.  We  consider  any  imposi- 
tion prejudicial  to  the  country,  contrary  to  any  just  law  of  ours 
(not  repugnant  to  the  laws  of  England)  to  be  an  infringement  of 
our  rights. 

II.  Concerning  our  duties  of  allegiance  to  our  sovereign  Lord 
the  King :    1 .  We  ought  to  uphold,  and  to  our  power  maintain 
the  place,  as  of  right  belonging  to  our  sovereign  Lord  the  King,  as 
holden  of  his  Majesty's  manor  of  East  Greenwich,  and  not  subject 
the  same  to  any  foreign  prince  or  potentate  whatsoever ;    2.  We 
ought  to  endeavor  the  preservation  of  his  Majesty's  royal  person, 
realms,  and  dominions,  and  so  far  as  lieth  in  us  to  discover  and 

E 


98  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

prevent  all  plots  and  conspiracies  against  the  same,  &c. ;  3.  We 
ought  to  seek  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  our  King  and  nation,  by 
a  faithful  discharge  in  the  governing  of  this  people  committed  to 
our  care." 

To  which  is  added  a  clause,  that  the  warrant  for  the  appre- 
hension of  Goffe  and  Whalley  ought  to  have  the  support  of  the 
court,  and  that  no  shelter  should  be  given  to  people  legally 
obnoxious  and  flying  from  justice.  This  extraordinary  document 
exhibits  more  briefly  and  distinctly  their  ideas  of  their  own  inde- 
pendence, and  their  own  nominal  allegiance  to  the  crown,  than 
the  most  labored  treatise,,  and  possesses  the  additional  advantage 
of  not  being  an  inference  from  facts  subject  to  be  controverted, 
and  open  to  the  charge  of  prejudice,  but  a  manifesto  carefully 
weighed,  deliberately  adopted,  and  entered  on  record  in  the 
journals  of  the  house. 

Here  are  distinctly  shadowed  out  the  three  great  doctrines  on 
which  their  sovereignty  rested.  The  first  is  a  positive  denial  of 
the  right  of  appeal ;  the  second,  a  declaration  that  acts  of 
Parliament  regulating  their  trade  were  unconstitutional ;  and  the 
third,  an  assertion  of  their  peculiar  privilege  of  managing  their 
own  internal  affairs.  These  three  principles,  accompanied  as 
they  were  with  a  distinct  avowal  of  the  legality  of  maintaining 
them  by  force  of  arms,  comprise  absolute  independence.  They 
are  wholly  irreconcilable  with  any  thing  like  imperial  control,  and 
leave  the  king  nothing  but  an  empty  title.  It  is,  therefore, 
absurd  to  ascribe  the  origin  of  these  pretensions  to  the  revolution 
of  1783.  They  thus  early  asserted  and  contended  for  unmixed 
and  uncontrollable  republicanism.  Nor  was  the  demand  either 
unnatural  or  inconsistent  with  their  position  or  prejudices,  and 
the  circumstances  of  both  Europe  and  America  at  the  time. 
They  had  grown  up  in  neglect,  and  self-government  was  essential 
to  their  existence  as  a  community.  Having  exercised  it  for  a 
long  period  from  necessity,  they  became  enamored  of  it  from  use, 
and  now  demanded  it  as  a  right.  According  to  these  views,  into 
which  they  had  reasoned  themselves,  their  connection  with  En- 
gland was  purely  voluntary.  The  only  compact  they  had  with 
its  sovereign,  they  alleged,  was  to  pay  him  a  fifth  of  the  gold  and 
silver  ore  found  in  the  soil,  which  they  expressed  their  willingness 
to  do,  whenever  any  should  be  discovered.  On.  that  condition, 
arid  that  their  laws  should  not  be  repugnant  1o  those  of  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  99 

parent  country,  they  obtained  the  territory.  But  they  said,  if 
there  were  no  charter,  they  still  owed  no  obedience  ;  for  the  king, 
in  fact,  had  no  title  himself  by  pretense  of  discovery,  which  was  a 
mere  popish  doctrine  derived  from  Alexander  VI.  ;  and  their  own 
was  far  better,  being  founded  on  prior  possession,  actual  and 
continued  occupation  and  improvement,  and  purchase  from  the 
Indian  chiefs. 

Had  the  habits  of  the  monarch  been  at  all  equal  to  his  abilities, 
and  his  means  adequate  to  enforce  his  authority,  it  is  probable  he 
would  have  taken  prompt  and  efficient  measures  to  insure  their 
submission.  His  sagacity  penetrated  their  designs,  but  his  indo- 
lence and  indecision  were  unequal  to  a  contest  in  which  there 
was  neither  present  emolument  to  reimburse  the  expense,  nor  an 
increase  of  royal  power  to  add  strength  or  dignity  to  the  throne. 
He  resorted  to  professions  of  regard,  and  was  met  by  such 
extravagant  hyperboles,  as  to  excite  the  irrepressible  laughter  of 
the  courtiers.  He  was  less  successful  in  negotiation.  They  were 
subtle  disputants,  and  having  overpowered  their  own  judgment 
and  strong  intellects  with  casuistry,  were  easily  able  to  vanquish 
his  statesmen,  whose  minds  were  more  occupied  with  their  own 
intrigues  than  the  affairs  of  a  distant  and  refractory  colony.  In 
the  end,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  he  resorted  to  a  court  of  law, 
and  partially  effected  his  object. 

Complaints  still  continuing  to  be  made  of  their  want  of  tolera- 
tion, arbitrary  conduct,  and  disaffection,  the  local  government 
thought  it  necessary  to  send  two  agents  to  England,  to  endeavor 
to  meet  these  charges  in  the  best  manner  they  could.  These 
gentlemen  accepted  the  trust  with  the  greatest  reluctance,  and 
such  was  their  apprehension  relative  to  their  own  personal  safety, 
that  they  first  stipulated  for  reimbursement  and  indemnification 
from  the  consequences  of  their  detention  by  the  court.  They 
were  fortified  with  letters  to  Lord  Saye  and  Sele,  who  had  more 
Puritanism  than  was  consistent  with  his  character  for  good  sense, 
and  more  sympathy  with  colonial  independence  than  was  com- 
patible with  his  duty  to  his  sovereign.  Lord  Clarendon,  Lord 
Manchester,  Colonel  Temple,  and  others  were  also  solicited  to  aid 
and  assist  their  envoys,  who  were  finally  dispatched  with  especial 
orders  to  obtain  all  they  could,  and  to  yield  nothing.  As  the 
instructions  are  very  brief,  and  exceedingly  characteristic,  I  insert 
them. 


100  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

1.  You  shall  present  us  to  his  Majesty  as  his  loyal  and  obedient 
subjects,  and  not  to  be  wanting  to  instance  in  the  particulars 
which  most  and  best  render  us  so  to  be. 

2.  You  shall  endeavor  to  take  off  all  scandal  and  objections 
which  are  or  shall  be  made  against  us. 

3.  You  shall  endeavor  the  establishment  of  the  rights  and 
privileges  we  now  enjoy.  / 

4.  You  shall  not  engage  us,  by  any  act  of  yours,  to  any  thing 
which  may  be  prejudicial  to  our  present  standing,  according  to 
patent. 

They  met  a  favorable  and,  what  appeared  to  them,  a  gracious 
reception  from  the  king,  who  assured  them  he  would  confirm  the 
main  objects  of  their  charter,  but  commanded  them  immediately 
to  rectify  several  serious  deviations  from  its  spirit  and  meaning. 
On  their  return  to  their  native  country,  his  Majesty  delivered 
to  them  a  letter,  addressed  to  the  Government  of  Massachusetts, 
containing  an  amnesty  for  past  offenses,  but  requiring  that  all 
their  laws  should  be  reviewed,  and  such  as  were  contrary  or 
derogatory  to  his  authority  and  government  should  be  annulled 
and  repealed  ;  that  the  oath  of  allegiance  should  be  duly  observed, 
that  the  administration  of  justice  should  be  in  his  name,  that 
liberty  should  be  given  to  all  that  desired,  to  use  the  Book  of 
Common  Prayer,  and  perform  their  devotions  in  the  manner  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed ;  that  all  persons  of  good  and 
honest  lives  and  conversations,  should  be  admitted  to  the  sacra- 
ment of  the  Lord's  Supper,  according  to  the  service  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  their  children  to  baptism ;  that  in  the  choice  of 
governor  and  assistants,  the  only  consideration  to  be  had  should 
be  of  the  wisdom,  virtue,  and  integrity  of  the  persons  to  be  chosen, 
and  not  of  any  faction,  with  reference  to  opinions  and  outward 
profession  ;  that  all  freeholders  of  competent  estates,  not  vicious, 
&c.,  though  of  different  persuasions,  should  have  their  votes  in 
the  election  of  all  officers,  civil  and  military ;  and,  finally,  that 
the  letter  should  be  published,  &c. 

However  reasonable  these  things  now  appear,  they  were  con- 
sidered at  the  time  very  detrimental  to  their  rights,  by  a  people 
who  had  hitherto  tolerated  no  interference  in  their  internal  af- 
fairs. They  deemed  them  subversive  of  their  liberty  on  the  one 
hand,  and  destructive  of  all  true  religion  and  good  government 
on  the  other.  When  so  many  things,  however,  were  ordered  to 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERIOA.  101 

be  done,  and  so  many  innovations  required,  it  was  manifest  some 
compliance  was  necessary,  if  only  for  the  sake  of  preserving  ap- 
pearances. The  letter  was  accordingly  published,  which  was  the 
easiest  to  be  complied  with  of  all  the  injunctions  it  contained, 
but  the  order  for  its  promulgation  was  accompanied,  as  usual, 
with  a  caution,  that  no  further  action  was  to  be  taken  upon  it 
for  the  present.  "  Inasmuch  as  it  hath  influence  upon  the 
churches,  as  well  as  civil  state,  all  manner  of  action,  in  relation 
thereto,  shall  be  suspended,  until  the  next  General  Court,  that  so 
all  persons  concerned  may  have  time  and  opportunity  to  consider 
of  what  is  necessary  to  be  done  in  order  to  his  Majesty's  pleasure 
therein." 

It  was  also  ordered,  that  all  writs  and  legal  process  should 
thereafter  be  issued  in  the  name  of  the  king.  To  admit  it  to 
appear  in  the  judicial  proceedings  was  unavoidable,  but  to  enforce 
respect  for  it  would  be  in  itself  an  acknowledgement  of  a  foreign 
power ;  and  the  different  submission  required  to  local  and  impe- 
rial authority  was  forcibly  illustrated  by  two  contemporaneous 
suits. 

A  person  who  had  rendered  himself  obnoxious  by  petitioning 
against  the  colony,  happening  shortly  afterward  to  be  in  court, 
was  accused  of  discourteous  conduct,  fined  £200  for  his  con- 
tempt, and  ordered  to  find  sureties  in  a  like  sum  for  his  good  be- 
havior; while  a  constable,  who  refused  to  publish  the  king's  let- 
ter, and  a  select-man,  who  spoke  disrespectfully  of  it,  were  both 
acquitted  on  an  alleged  deficiency  of  proof. 

The  determination  to  evade  or  delay,  which  had  become  a 
fixed  rule  of  conduct  on  all  occasions,  exhausted  the  patience  of 
the  English  government.  Churchmen,  both  within  and  without 
Massachusetts,  were  loud  in  their  complaints,  that  the  colony 
was  rendered  intolerable  to  the  one,  and  practically  closed  to  the 
other  ;  while  those  who  felt  Aggrieved  at  the  decisions  of  the 
court,  expressed,  in  strong  terms,  the  sense  they  entertained  of 
the  hardships  they  endured,  in  being  debarred  from  a  rehearing, 
and  by  having  an  appeal  converted  into  an  offense  of  a  very  seri- 
ous nature,  that  of  slandering  the  Lord's  elect. 

Among  others  who  were  aggrieved  were  the  Quakers,  who 
stated  that  their  people  had  suffered  incredible  punishments  and 
persecutions  at  the  hands  of  the  Puritans.  Without  entering  into 
the  heart-rending  details  of  the  cruelties  practiced  upon  them,  it 


102  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA 

is  merely  sufficient  to  state  what  enactments  were  made  against 
them.  One  of  the  first  imposed  a  penalty  of  X 100  upon  the  mas- 
ter of  any  vessel  who  should  bring  a  known  Quaker  into  any  port 
of  the  colony,  and  required  him  to  give  security  to  carry  him 
back  again  ;  in  the  mean  time,  the  unfortunate  man  was  sent  to 
the  house  of  correction,  and  whipped  twenty  stripes,  and  after- 
ward kept  at  hard  labor,  until  transportation.  They  also  laid  a 
fine, of  =£5  for  importing,  and  the  like  sum  for  dispersing,  their 
doctrinal  books,  and  for  defending  their  heretical  opinions.  The 
next  year,  an  additional  law  was  made,  by  which  all  persons 
were  subjected  to  the  penalty  of  forty  shillings  for  every  hour's 
entertainment  given  to  any  known  member  of  the  sect  ;  and  any 
Quaker,  after  the  first  conviction,  if  a  man,  was  to  lose  one  ear, 
and  the  second  time,  the  other  ;  a  woman,  each  time  to  be  severe- 
ly whipped,  and  the  third  time,  man  or  woman,  to  have  their 
tongues  bored  through  with  a  red-hot  iron  ;  and  every  one  who 
should  become  a  convert  in  the  colony  was  subjected  to  the  like 
punishment.  Afterward,  a  fine  often  shillings  was  laid  on  every 
person  present  at  any  of  their  meetings,  and  £5  upon  any  one 
speaking  there.* 

*  That  these  poor  zealots  were  superior  to  the  gloomy  bigots  who  persecuted 
them,  appears  from  the  followiug  extract  from  W.  Leddra's  address  to  his 
brethren,  written  the  day  before  his  execution,  which,  considering  the  station 
of  the  man,  and  the  circumstances  under  which  it  was  written,  is  singularly 
beautiful : 

"MOST   DEAR  ASD   INWARDLY   BELOVED, 

"The  sweet  influence  of  the  morning  star,  like  a  flood  distilling  into  my  inno- 
cent habitation,  hath  so  filled  me  with  the  joy  of  the  Lord,  in  the  beauty  of  holi- 
ness, that  my  spirit  is  as  if  it  did  not  inhabit  a  tabernacle  of  clay,  but  is  wholly 
swallowed  up  in  the  bosom  of  eternity,  from  whence  it  had  its  being. 

"  Alas,  alas  !  what  can  the  wealth  and  spirit  of  man  that  lusteth  to  envy,  ag 
gravated  by  the  heat  and  strength  of  the  king  of  the  locusts,  which  came  out  of 
the  pit,  do  unto  one  that  is  hid  in  the  secret  places  of  the  Almighty,  or  to  them 
that  are  gathered  under  the  healing  wings  of  the  Prince  of  Peace  ?  O,  my  be- 
loved, I  have  waited  as  the  Dove  at  the  windows  of  the  Ark,  and  have  stood 
Btill  in  that  watch,  which  the  Master  did  at  His  coming  reward  with  the  full- 
ness of  His  love,  wherein  my  heart  did  rejoice  that  I  might  speak  a  few  words 
to  yon,  sealed  with  the  spirit  of  promise.  As  the  flowing~of  the  ocean  doth  fill 
every  creek  and  branch  thereof,  and  then  returns  again  toward  its  own  being 
and  fullness,  and  leaves  a  savor  behind  it,  so  doth  the  life  and  virtue  of  God  flow 
into  every  one  of  3'our  hearts  whom  He  hath  made  partakers  of  His  divine  na- 
ture, and  when  it  withdraws  but  little,  it  leaves  a  sweet  savor  behind  it,  that 
many  can  say  they  are  made  clean,  through  the  word  that  He  hath  spoken  to 
them.  Therefore,  my  dear  hearts,  let  the  enjoyment  of  the  life  alone  be  your 
hope,  your  joy,  and  your  consolation.  Stand  in  th?  watch  within,  in  the  fear  of 


THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  103 

Notwithstanding  all  this  severity,  their  number,  as  might  well 
nave  been  expected,  increased  rather  than  diminished.  When 
brought  up  for  judgment,  one  of  them  observed,  "  for  the  last  man 
that  was  put  to  death  h^fe,  are  five  come  into  his  room ;  and  if 
you  have  power  to  take  my  life  from  me,  God  can  raise  up  ten  of 
His  servants,  and  send  them  among  you  in  my  place,  that  you 
may  have  torment  upon  torment." 

All  these  tortures,  imprisonments,  corporal  and  other  punish- 
ments were  inflicted  without  remorse,  and  endured  without  pro- 
ducing any  other  effect  than  feelings  of  horror  or  pity  in  the  be- 
holder. Four  of  them  suffered  capitally.  To  the  positive  orders 
of  the  king  that  these  dreadful  barbarities  should  be  discontinued 
(after  having  first  satisfied  themselves  of  their  inefficiency),  they 
yielded  compliance,  so  far  as  mutilation  and  death  were  employed, 
and  the  persecution  of  vagabond  Quakers  dwindled  down  into 
mere  whipping,  with  the  merciful  limitation  attached  to  it,  that 
the  culprit  should  be  only  flogged  through  three  towns.  Tho 
Baptists  who  had  also  been  treated  with  great  severity,  joined  in 
the  universal  complaint  against  them. 

Finally  the  Lords  of  the  Council,  who  were  daily  besought 
for  relief  by  so  many  different  interests,  represented  to  the  king, 
(January,  1662-3),  "  that  New  England  hath  in  these  late  times 
of  general  disorder,  strayed  into  many  enormities,  by  which  it  ap- 
peared that  the  government  there  have  purposely  withdrawn  all 
manner  of  correspondence,  as  if  they  intended  to  suspend  their  ab- 
solute dependence  to  his  Majesty's  authority." 

Not  wishing  to  proceed  to  extremities  with  these  intractable 
people,  Charles  resolved  upon  sending  commissioners  to  report 
upon  the  actual  state  of  the  colonies  ;  and  accordingly  Colonel 
Nicholas,  Sir  Robert  Carr,  George  Cartwright,  and  Samuel 
Maverick,  were  authorized  to  proceed  to  America,  "  to  visit  the 

the  Lord,  which  is  the  entrance  of  wisdom.  Confess  Him  before  men ;  yea,  be- 
fore His  greatest  enemies.  Fear  not  what  they  can  do  to  you.  Greater  is  He 
that  is  iii  you,  than  he  that  is  in  the  world ;  for  He  will  clothe  you  with  humility 
and  in  the  power  of  His  meekness  you  shall  reign  over  all  the  rage  of  your  ene- 
mies."— Duval's  History  of  Quakers. 

Mary  Dyer  addressed  from  the  jail  a  remonstrance  to  the  Court : 
"Were  ever  such  laws  heard  of  among  a  people  that  profess  Christ  come  in 
the  flesh  ?  Have  you  no  other  weapon  but  such  laws  to  light  against  spiritual 
wickedness  withal,  as  you  call  it?  Woe  is  me  for  you.  Ye  are  disobedient 
and  deceived.  Let  my  request  be  as  Esther's  to  Ahasuerus,  'You  will  not 
repent  that  you  were  kept  from  shedding  blood,  though  it  was  by  a  woman.'" 


104  THE   ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

provinces  of  New  England,  hear  and  determine  all  causes  of  com- 
plaint, as  well  as  appeals  in  matters  military,  ecclesiastical,  and 
civil,  and  to  settle  there  peace  and  security/' 

The  instructions  given  them  were  of^.  kind  well  calculated  (as 
far  as  such  a  proceeding  was  capable)  to  maintain  no  more  than 
the  due  observance  of  the  terms  of  the  charter  on  the  one  hand, 
and  the  royal  authority  on  the  other.  They  were  particularly 
charged  to  encourage  no  faction,  to  solicit  no  present  profit,  to 
countenance  no  change  inconsistent  with  ancient  usages,  and  to 
do  nothing  that  might  be  considered  an  invasion  of  liberty  of  con- 
science. Finally,  not  to  shock  their  religious  scruples  beyond  all 
endurance,  or  to  run  the  hazard  of  driving  a  people  already  high- 
ly 'excited,  into  irretrievable  madness,  they  were  commanded  not 
to  suffer  their  chaplain,  when  officiating  for  them,  to  wear  his 
surplice. 

As  these  gentlemen  were  expected  in  Boston  early  in  July,  a 
day  of  fasting  and  prayer  was  appointed  to  be  observed  through- 
out the  whole  province,  to  implore  the  mercy  of  God  upon  his 
people  under  their  sore  trials  and  afflictions.  As  it  was  thought 
not  impossible  some  attempt  might  be  made  by  the  Commissioners 
to  seize  upon  their  charter,  it  was  ordered  to  be  brought  into 
court,  when  it  was  formally  delivered,  together  with  a  duplicate, 
to  four  confidential  persons,  who  were  empowered  and  enjoined 
to  deposit  them  in  a  place  of  safety  and  concealment.  The  Gov- 
ernor and  Council  then  resolved  "  to  bear  true  allegiance  to  his 
Majesty,  but  to  adhere  to  a  patent  so  dearly  earned  and  so  long 
enjoyed."  A  committee  was  also  appointed,  whose  duty  it  was, 
immediately  on  the  arrival  of  the  ships,  to  present  their  respects 
to  the  board,  and  request  that  strict  orders  should  be  given  to  the 
subaltern  officers,  sailors,  and  soldiers,  on  their  coming  on  shore 
for  refreshment,  to  land  only  in  very  limited  numbers,  without 
arms,  and  that  they  should  be  admonished  to  conduct  themselves 
in  a  meet,  orderly  manner,  and  abstain  from  giving  offense  to  the 
inhabitants,  or  violating  the  laws  for  the  preservation  of  the  peace. 
Having  taken  these  precautions,  and  mutually  encouraged  each 
other  to  exercise  great  coolness  and  deliberation,  in  any  step  it 
might  be  necessary  to  take  in  this  trying  emergency,  they  await- 
ed with  patience  the  arrival  of  the  formidable  officers  of  the 
Crown. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

The  Commissioners  arrive  at  Boston — Deliver  a  Royal  Letter  to  the  Govern- 
ment, and  proceed  to  the  Hudson  to  attack  the  Dutch  Settlements — The 
General  Court  in  their  Absence  petition  for  their  Withdrawal,  and  solicit  the 
Aid  of  the  Puritan  Noblemen — Answers  of  the  King  and  Lord  Clarendon — 
General  Effect  of  Commissions  of  Inquiry — The  Franchise  extended — The 
Clergy  and  Demagogues  prepare  the  People  for  Resistance — False  Rumors 
put  into  Circulation— General  Court  refuses  to  summon  the  People  to  assem- 
ble— Commissioners  inquire  whether  they  admit  the  King's  Authority — They 
decline  to  answer,  and  refuse  to  attend  before  them,  or  to  submit  to  an  Ap- 
peal— They  summon  the  Commissioners — Close  of  the  Inquiry — Accidents  to 
Commissioners  reputed  to  be  Judgments  of  Heaven — The  King  orders  the 
Governor  and  other  Members  of  the  General  Court  to  appear  before  him — 
They  decline,  affecting  to  doubt  the  Genuineness  of  the  Order — Distinction 
taken  between  Obedience  to  beneficial  and  injurious  Orders — The  New  En- 
gland Colonies  renew  their  Confederation — Effect  of  it — Complaints  of  En- 
glish Merchants  against  the  Infraction  of  the  Laws  of  Trade — The  Oath  of  Alle- 
giance ordered  to  be  taken,  and  the  King's  Arms  set  up — Agents  sent  to  En- 
gland, but  ordered  to  yield  Nothing — A  Custom  House  Officer  appointed — 
Opposition  to  him — He  is  obliged  to  return  to  England — General  Court  re- 
enacts  Trade  Laws — Its  Members  take  modified  official  Oaths — Collector 
sent  out  again,  but  they  threaten  to  execute  him — Is  obliged  to  quit  the 
Colony — General  Gloom  in  Massachusetts — People  terrified  by  Comets — The 
Credentials  of  Agents  found  deficient — They  offer  a  Bribe  of  two  thousand 
Guineas  to  the  King — Agents  return,  and  are  followed  by  Randolph  with  the 
quo  wfirranto — General  Court  refuses  to  surrender  the  Charter — Their  Argu- 
ments— They  again  petition  and  pretend  there  has  been  no  Service  of  the 
Writ — Judgment  given  against  them — Remarks  on  their  Conduct — Natural 
effects  of  Dissent. 

THE  Commissioners  arrived  at  Boston  on  the  13th  of  July, 
1664,  and  having  laid  before  the  Governor  and  Council  their  let- 
ters patent,  and  called  their  attention  to  the  last  mandatory  com- 
munication from  his  Majesty,  proceeded  to  the  Hudson,  for  the 
purpose  of  reducing  the  Dutch  settlements,  that  interposed  so  in- 
conveniently between  the  English  provinces. 

During  their  temporary  absence,  the  Generat  Court  petitioned 
the  king  to  revoke  their  authority,  and  once  more  besought  the 
aid  of  all  those  influential  persons  in  England,  who,  at  one  time 
or  another  had  shown  them  any  kindness.  To  the  former  they 
said,  in  their  usual  adulatory  language,  "As  the  high  place  you 
sustain  on  earth  doth  number  you  among  the  gods,  so  you  will 
imitate  the  God  of  Heaven,  in  being  ready  to  maintain  the  cause 

E* 


10G 


THE  ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA 


of  the  afflicted,  and  the  right  of  the  poor,  and  to  receive  their  cries 
and  addresses  to  that  end."  The  rest  of  the  memorial  \vas  a 
lamentation,  at  once  humble  in  language,  and  obstinate  in  pur- 
pose, filled  with  the  most  dutiful  expressions  of  loyalty  and  obe- 
dience, but  containing  no  pledge  of  fulfilling  any  one  of  the  rea- 
sonable conditions,  on  which  alone  his  Majesty  had  promised  to 
confirm  their  patent.  To  their  patrons  and  friends  they  repre- 
sented the  commission  as  an  attempt  to  destroy  their  privileges, 
to  deprive  them  of  liberty  of  conscience,  and  to  impose  burdens 
upon  them  that  they  were  unable  to  bear.  The  king,  who  saw 
through  their  evasions,  assured  them  that  his  object  was,  not  to 
infringe  upon  their  charter,  but  to  see  that  its  provisions  were 
fully  and  fairly  complied  with  ;  that  their  neighbors,  the  inhabit- 
tants,  and  the  savages,  as  well  as  the  emigrants,  made  accusations 
against  them,  into  which  it  was  his  duty  to  inquire  ;  that  they 
might  rely  upon  the  fullest  protection  and  support  that  the  best 
subjects  ever  received  from  the  most  generous  Prince  ;  and  final- 
ly, that  he  would  renew  the  patent  for  them,  but  must  first  insist 
on  a  full  and  free  toleration  for  Churchmen  and  Dissenters,  and 
a  repeal  of  such  laws  as  were  repugnant  to  those  of  England. 

Lord  Clarendon,  who  was  one  of  the  noblemen  to  whom  they 
had  addressed  themselves,  indignantly  declined  to  be  the  medium 
of  their  double-dealing. 

"  I  know  not  what  you  mean,"  said  his  lordship,  "  by  saying 
that  the  Commissioners  have  power  to  exercise  government  in- 
consistent with  your  rights  and  privileges,  since  I  am  sure  their 
instructions  are  to  see  and  provide  for  the  due  and  full  observa- 
tions of  the  charter,  and  that  all  the  privileges  granted  by  it  may 
be  equally  enjoyed  by  all  his  Majesty's  subjects  there.  I  know 
they  are  expressly  inhibited  from  intermeddling  with,  or  obstruct- 
ing the  administration  of  justice,  according  to  the  forms  observed 
there  ;  but  if,  in  truth,  the  proceedings  have  been  irregular,  and 
against  the  rules  of  justice  (as  in  some  particular  cases,  recom- 
mended to  them  by  his  Majesty,  they  seem  to  be),  it  can  not  be 
oresumed  that  his  majesty  hath,  or  will  leave  his  subjects  of 
New  England  without  hope  of  redress  by  an  appeal  to  him, 
which  his  subjects  of  all  his  other  kingdoms  have  free  liberty  to 
make.  I  can  say  no  more  to  you,  but  that  it  is  in  your  power  to 
be  very  happy,  and  to  enjoy  all  that  hath  been  granted  to  you ; 
but  it  will  be  absolutely  necessary,  that  you  perform  and  pay  all 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  107 

that  reverence  and  obedience,  which  is  due  from  subjects  to  their 
king,  and  which  his  Majesty  will  exact  from  you,  and  doubts  not 
but  to  find  from  the  best  of  the  colony,  both  in  quality  and  num- 
ber." 

Subsequent  events  but  too  plainly  showed  that  both  were 
wrong.  There  was  too  much  hesitation  and  condescension  on 
the  part  of  the  king,  and  too  much  dogged  obstinacy  on  the  side 
of  the  people.  The  whole  tenor  of  the  conduct  of  the  colonists, 
from  their  first  arrival  in  the  country,  afforded  no  reasonable 
ground  for  hoping  for  an  accommodation.  A  commission  of  in- 
quiry, that  does  not  in  the  first  instance  supersede  the  local  gov- 
ernment, and  assume  the  supreme  command,  is  worse  than  use- 
less ;  on  the  one  hand,  it  is  exposed  to  legalized  obstructions,  that 
it  can  not  "resist ;  and  on  the  other,  it  subverts  that  respect  and 
obedience  to  constituted  authority,  which  is  so  essential  to  the 
well-being  of  a  community. 

This  was  the  first  time  the  General  Court  had  ever  come  in 
direct  conflict  with  the  Crown.  It  was  a  difficult  and  trying 
occasion,  but  they  proved  themselves  equal  to  the  emergency. 
Their  cautious  conduct,  temperate  language,  unflinching  firm- 
ness, and  grave  demeanor,  gave  them  a  decided  advantage  over 
the  Commissioners,  who  had  neither  the  weight  of  character,  the 
influence  of  talent,  nor  the  amount  of  legal  knowledge  necessary 
for  the  successful  discharge  of  their  duties,  while  they  were 
wholly  destitute  of  the  requisite  means  for  enforcing  their  de- 
cisions.* 

They  were  equally  forgetful  of  what  was  due  to  the  high  sta- 
tion they  filled  themselves,  and  to  the  rank  and  power  of  a  local 
government,  the  choice  of  a  free  people.  So  far  from  having  a 
proper  consideration  for  the  mortifying  and  humiliating  position 
in  which  the  General  Court  was  placed,  they  seemed  to  regard 
nothing  but  the  exercise  of  their  own  authority. 

The  forbearance  of  the  governor  and  his  council,  under  their 

*  Hutchinson  (vol.  I.  p.  250)  thus  describes  them:  "  Colonel  Nichols,  by  his 
discreet  behavior,  gained  the  esteem  of  the  people,  and  afterward,  while  he  was 
Governor  of  New  York,  kept  up  friendly  correspondence  with  the  General  Court 
of  Massachusetts.  Carr  and  Cartwright  were  men  very  unfit  for  such  a  trust, 
and  by  their  violent  proceedings  rendered  themselves  odious.  Maverick  seems 
to  have  been  appointed  only*  to  increase  the  number,  and  to  be  subservient  to 
others.  He  had  lived  in  the  colony  from  its  beginning.  He  was  always  in  op- 
position to  the  authority.'' 


iOa  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

embarrassments,  was  more  than  could  have  been  expected  from 
men  who  had  persuaded  themselves  they  were  rather  sinned 
against  than  sinning.  Though  indignant  at  being  summoned  in 
the  presence  of  their  constituents,  to  answer  to  every  complaint 
that  could  be  solicited  against  them,  and  degraded  by  being  put 
upon  their  trial  before  incompetent,  if  not  prejudiced  judges,  they 
nevertheless  maintained,  with  the  utmost  command  of  temper, 
what  they  affected  to  call  their  chartered  rights ;  asserting  their 
territorial  supremacy,  without  recrimination  on  the  one  hand,  or 
an  open  and  seditious  denial  of  royal  authority,  on  the  other. 
This  line  of  conduct  they  steadily  pursued,  as  long  as  it  was  pos- 
sible to  do  so,  or  until  submission  or  resistance  became  inevitable. 

Whatever  wisdom  or  experience  may  be  gathered  from  the 
pages  of  history  in  genera],  it  is  certain  that  the  annals  of  the  old 
provinces,  so  rich  in  instruction,  have  imparted  but  little  knowl- 
edge to  those  in  England,  in  whose  hands  are  intrusted  colonial 
destinies.  This  commission,  as  we  shall  see,  was  a  wretched 
failure,  as  every  successive  one  has  been,  down  to  that  recently 
sent  to  Canada.  They  are  necessarily  productive  of  infinite  mis- 
chief ;  they  lower  the  respect  of  the  Provincials  for  the  imperial 
Government,  induce  hasty  and  inconsiderate  legislation,  based  on 
reports  that  are  alike  distinguished  for  their  incongruity,  imprac- 
ticability, and  disingenuousness ;  but,  above  all,  they  disgust  by 
their  reckless  attacks  (in  which  they  make  liberal  use  of  the 
senseless  epithets,  "cliques,"  "family  compacts,"  "obstructives," 
and  "  bigoted  Tories")  on  the  loyal  gentry  of  the  colonies,  who 
are  as  superior  to  those  erratic  politicians  in  ability  and  practical 
information,  as  they  are  in  integrity  of  conduct  and  consistency 
of  character. 

The  General  Court  assembled  on  the  4th  of  August,  when 
they  resolved  :  "  That  they  would  bear  faithful  and  true  allegi- 
ance to  his  Majesty,  and  adhere  to  their  patent  so  dearly  obtained 
and  so  long  enjoyed  by  undoubted  right,  in  the  sight  of  God  and 
man."  They  then  repealed  the  law  relating  to  the  admission  of 
freemen,  and,  instead  of  it,  provided  another,  that  allowed  En- 
glish subjects,  being  freeholders,  ratable  to  a  certain  value,  certi- 
fied by  the  minister  of  the  place  to  be  orthodox,  and  not  vicious 
in  their  lives,  to  be  made  freemen,  though  not  members  of  their 
Church. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  clergy  and  the  demagogues  prepared  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  10S> 

people  for  resistance ;  the  former,  by  haranguing  in  their  pulpits ; 
the  latter  in  their  town  meetings.  As  the  whole  population  was 
constrained  to  attend  public  worship  on  Sundays,  one  day  was 
sufficient  to  disseminate  sedition  through  a  country  predisposed  to 
receive  it.  Assembling  for  parish  business,  afforded  favorable 
opportunities  for  the  inhabitants  to  discuss  what  they  had  heard 
in  their  conventicles.  The  most  alarming  rumors  were  artfully 
put  in  circulation.  It  was  said  that  Prelacy  was  to  be  estab- 
lished, and  tithes  set  apart  for  the  Episcopal  clergy :  that  disso- 
lute soldiers  were  to  be  quartered  upon  the  elect,  and  .£5000 
a  year  raised  for  the  civil-list  of  the  king,  beside  a  tax  of  twelve- 
pence  per  acre ;  while  offices,  without  number,  were  to  be  cre- 
ated for  hungry  courtiers.  The  louder,  more  inflammatory,  and 
bolder,  were  the  harangues  of  their  orators,  the  more  acceptable 
they  became ;  and  nothing  was  heard  through  the  whole  prov- 
ince but  tyranny  and  patriotism,  liberty  and  slavery,  victory  or 
death. 

The  desired  effect  was  immediately  produced.  Whoever  asso- 
ciated with  the  Royal  Commissioners  became  the  objects  of  pop- 
ular ridicule  or  insult.  They  were  afraid  to  appeal,  lest  they 
should  incur  the  vengeance  of  their  offended  countrymen.  They 
were  told,  if  they  acknowledged  the  authority  of  the  Board, 
"  they  would  pull  down  with  their  own  hands  the  house  which 
wisdom  had  built  for  them  and  their  posterity." 

The  Commissioners,  desirous  of  removing  the  unfavorable  im- 
pressions raised  against  them  by  these  slanders,  requested  that 
the  people  might  be  convened  together  to  hear  their  commands ; 
but  the  Court,  with  their  usual  caution  and  evasion,  dreading 
the  effect  of  the  interview  on  the  firmness  of  the  yeomanry,  no 
less  than  the  precedent  of  their  obeying  any  one  but  themselves, 
replied  that  they  had  no  objection  whatever  to  their  assembling, 
if  they  thought  proper  to  do  so ;  for  they  were  free  agents,  and 
could  do  as  they  saw  fit  on  this  or  any  other  occasion.  They 
professed,  however,  their  inability  to  understand  how  such  a  gen- 
eral meeting  could  in  any  way  further  the  object  of  their  inquiry, 
as  the  people  were  well-informed  of  all  that  had  taken  place,  and 
were  faithfully  represented  by  their  delegates,  who  were  empow- 
ered to  act  and  to  speak  in  their  behalf. 

Entertaining  this  view,  they  said  they  did  not  feel  justified  in 
commanding  their  attendance,  especially  as  the  season  was  such 


HO  THE   ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA. 

as  to  require  the  utmost  exertion  of  every  one,  when  labor  was  so 
scarce  and  expensive ;  and,  what  was  an  awful  consideration,  it 
would  expose  the  aged  and  infirm,  and  the  women  and  children, 
of  every  frontier  settlement  to  the  fury  of  the  savages,  who  would 
doubtless  seize  the  opportunity  of  wreaking  their  vengeance  by 
an  indiscriminate  slaughter  of  them  all.  For  this  reply,  which 
was  better  calculated  to  excite  ridicule  than  indignation,  they 
were  very  coarsely  stigmatized  by  one  of  the  Commissioners  as 
traitors.  They  then  sent  notices  themselves,  to  be  posted  up  in 
different  parts  of  the  colony,  requesting  the  inhabitants  to  meet 
them,  for  the  purpose  of  hearing  the  king's  gracious  letters,  and 
learning  the  true  object  and  design  of  their  mission ;  but  they 
were  too  much  irritated  with  what  they  had  been  told,  to  pay 
any  attention  to  them. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  into  any  detailed  account  of  the 
controversy  between  these  functionaries  and  the  local  government, 
as  it  would  not  only  not  interest  the  general  reader,  but  would 
withdraw  our  attention  from  the  main  object  of  the  work.  The 
Court  affected  to  feel  and  lament  the  painful  dilemma  in  which 
they  were  placed ;  to  submit,  they  conceived  would  be  to  strip 
themselves  of  all  their  rights ;  to  refuse  compliance,  seemed  to  be 
attended  with  odium,  and  the  danger  of  being  considered  in  the 
light  of  rebels.  They  said,  "  they  esteemed  it  their  greatest  un- 
happiness  to  be  held  to  give  up  their  privileges  by  charter,  and 
the  rights  of  Englishmen,  or  else  be  accounted  among  such  as 
denied  his  Majesty's  authority."  All  their  replies,  therefore,  were 
worded  in  such  general  terms,  and  expressed  in  such  cautious 
language,  that  the  Commissioners,  after  much  correspondence, 
and  conferences  without  number,  found,  to  their  infinite  mortifica- 
tion, that,  during  the  whole  period  of  their  residence  in  the 
country,  they  had  been  traveling  in  a  circle,  and  had  arrived  at 
last  at  the  same  point  from  whence  they  had  started,  not  much 
enlightened  by  their  vexatious  and  laborious  tour.  Loss  of  time 
and  labor  generally  produces  a  corresponding  effect  on  the  temper. 
Irritated  at  last  by  the  evasions  or  refusals  of  the  Court,  they 
submitted  to  them  the  following  question  :  "  Do  you  acknowledge 
the  patent,  wherein  we  are  appointed,  to  be  of  full  force  to  all 
the  purposes  therein  contained  ?"  To  this  form  of  interrogation 
the  governor  and  his  council  objected,  saying  they  chose  rather  to 
plead  their  charter,  arid  the  king's  special  charge,  that  they  should 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  Ill 

not  be  disturbed  in  its  enjoyment.  This  being  deemed  wholly 
unsatisfactory,  they  were  again  called  upon  for  a  categorical 
answer  ;  but  they  declared  it  "  was  enough  for  them  to  give  their 
sense  of  the  rights  granted  to  them,  and  that  it  was  beyond  their 
line  to  determine  the  power,  extent,  and  purpose  of  his  Majesty's 
Commission."  Baffled  in  their  attempt  to  draw  them  into  an 
admission,  so  fatal  to  their  defense,  or  into  a  contumacious  denial 
of  the  royal  authority,  they  determined  to  apply  to  them  a  most 
stringent  test,  by  bringing  them  to  their  bar,  as  a  court  of  appeal. 
They  accordingly  summoned  them  to  appear  before  them,  to 
answer  to  a  complaint  of  a  person  against  whom  they  had  some 
time  before  pronounced  judgment.  But  they  protested  against 
this  assumption  of  power,  so  inconsistent  with  their  charter,  and 
refused  to  attend.  At  the  time  appointed,  a  herald  sounded  his 
trumpet,  and  read  a  proclamation,  which,  after  a  long  recital  of 
their  own  forbearance  during  the  protracted  visit  of  the  Commis- 
sioners, and  the  repeated  and  frequent  invasions  they  made  upon 
their  rights,  declared,  in  his  Majesty's  name,  and  by  the  au- 
thority committed  to  them  by  their  patent,  that  they  could  not 
consent  to  their  proceedings,  and  that  it  was  utterly  inconsistent 
with  their  allegiance  to  suffer  any  persons  so  to  contravene  the 
king's  instructions. 

After  this  they  informed  the  Board  of  their  earnest  desire  to 
give  them  every  satisfaction  in  their  power,  and  notified  them 
that  they  should  forthwith  proceed  to  hear  the  cause  themselves, 
and  desired  them  to  appear  and  produce  their  allegations,  to 
which  every  attention  should  be  paid. 

This  unexpected  turn  of  affairs  brought  the  commission  to 
a  close  in  Massachusetts  ;  and  the  officers  composing  it,  after 
protesting  against  the  General  Court  taking  cognizance  of  a 
matter  in  which  they  were  directly  interested,  informed  them 
that  they  should  lose  no  time  in  such  an  undignified  contest. 
They  were  doomed,  however,  to  suffer  still  further  mortification. 
They  had  been  in  the  habit,  during  their  residence  at  Boston,  of 
entertaining  a  social  party  of  friends,  on  Saturday  evening,  at  the 
hotel  where  they  lodged.  This,  it  appears,  was  contrary  to  a 
local  law,  which  required  a  strict  observance  of  the  afternoon  of 
that  day,  as  a  portion  of  the  Sabbath.  A  constable,  intruded 
into  their  room,  ordered  them,  in  the  king's  name,  to  disperse, 
which  caused  his  immediate  ejection  from  the  house.  Thinking 


112  THE    ENGLISH    JN    AMERICA. 

that  the  insult  was  an  intentional  one,  premeditated  and  sug- 
gested by  the  magistrates,  and  fearing  a  repetition  of  the  outrage, 
they  adjourned  to  the  house  of  a  friend,  where  they  were  again 
visited  by  another  bailiff,  who,  after  admonishing  them  to  mend 
their  manners,  observed,  it  was  fortunate  they  had  not  had  him 
to  deal  with,  as  he  would  assuredly  have  arrested  them  all. 
"  What,"  said  one  of  the  Commissioners,  "  would  you  have  pre- 
sumed to  lay  hands  on  the  king's  officers  ?"  "  Certainly,"  was 
the  reply  of  the  democratic  and  sanctimonious  constable,  "  I  would 
seize  the  king  himself  if  he  were  here."  Not  knowing  where 
this  conduct  might  end,  they  left  Massachusetts  on  a  tour  to  the 
other  New  England  colonies,  in  which  they  experienced  much 
difficulty,  though  more  obedience  and  courtesy  than  at  Boston. 

Like  all  commissioners  of  inquiry  that  have  ever  been  sent  to 
America,  they  deemed  it  requisite  to  prove  the  necessity  of  their 
appointment,  by  encouraging  and  graciously  receiving  complaints 
against  the  local  government.  That  the  charter,  which  was 
never  designed  as  a  constitution,  was  too  undefined  in  its  terms, 
and  too  restricted  in  its  practical  operation,  and  that  many 
beneficial  refortns  were  required,  was  beyond  all  doubt ;  but  it 
was  equally  obvious  that  respect  was  due  to  the  station  and 
character  of  the  governor  and  court  of  assistants,  to  the  feelings 
of  people  of  influence  and  rank  in  the  colony,  and  to  the  ministers 
of  the  great  body  of  the  population.  Mankind  are  sufficiently 
prone  to  disobedience  to  their  superiors  ;  but  when  the  organs  of 
imperial  authority  lend  their  countenance  and  afford  encourage- 
ment to  the  disaffected,  every  land,  whether  it  be  the  barren  soil 
of  New  England,  or  the  fertile  region  of  Canada,  will  bear  a 
plentiful  harvest  of  falsehood,  misrepresentation,  and  discontent. 

One  of  the  Commissioners  was  captured  by  the  Dutch,  on  his 
return  to  England,  and  lost  all  his  papers,  and  another  died  the 
day  he  landed  in  Bristol ;  two  acidents,  which  were  seized  upon 
by  the  ministers,  with  their  usual  propensity  for  the  marvelous, 
and  declared  to  be  the  just  judgments  of  God  upon  those  who 
had  sought  to  injure,  the  Lord's  elect.  Such  a  signal  interposi- 
tion of  Providence  raised  the  drooping  spirits  of  those  who  doubted 
the  propriety  of  the  conduct  pursued  by  the  General  Court,  and 
confirmed  the  obstinacy  and  increased  the  spirit  of  resistance  in 
the  magistrates  and  people.  The  official  narrative,  however,  of 
their  proceedings  reached  England  in  safety  ;  and,  as  might  have 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  113 

been  expected  from  the  treatment  they  had  received,  was  very 
unfavorable.  It  disclosed  very  plainly,*  how  systematically  the 
Provincials  had  always  pursued  their  darling  object,  self-govern- 
ment, from  their  first  settlement  to  the  period  of  the  rebellion  iu 
England,  when  they  besought  Cromwell  to  bestow  absolute  inde- 
pendence upon  them,  and  from  thence  to  the  arrival  of  the  Board, 
whose  authority  they  eluded  or  denied,  calling  themselves  a  state, 
a  commonwealth,  and  a  people,  in  contradistinction  to  a  colony 
and  subjects. 

As  soon  as  the  result  of  their  mission  was  known,  it  occasioned 
great  indignation.  A  letter  addressed  in  the  name,  and  by  the 
order  of  the  king,  and  countersigned  by  Secretary  Maurice,  was 
dispatched  to  Boston  without  delay,  commanding  on  their  allegi- 
ance Mr.  Bellingham,  the  Governor,  and  Mr.  Hawthorne,  the 
Speaker,  together  with  three  others,  to  be  chosen  by  the  General 
Court,  to  proceed  Ibrthwith  to  London,  to  answer  the  various 
charges  which  from  time  to  time  had  accumulated  against  them. 
The  peremptory  tone  of  the  order  required  their  immediate  and 
serious  attention.  The  Legislature  was  convened,  and  six  elders 
successively  prayed  for  a  blessing  on  their  deliberations,  and  the 
discovery  of  some  practicable  mode  of  escape  from  their  troubles. 

They  were  indebted  to  their  ingenuity,  for  what  no  one  else 
but  themselves  would  have  attributed  to  their  supplications.  A 
slight  deviation  from  the  truth  effectually  answered  their  purpose. 
They  affected  to  doubt  the  authenticity  of  the  letter,  as  they  were 
not  familiar  with  the  signature  of  the  officer  by  whom  it  was 
signed,  and  pronounced  it  a  forgery.  They  therefore  agreed  upon 
an  answer,  in  which  the  genuineness  of  the  royal  mandate  was 
questioned,  and  excused  themselves  for  sending  over  agents, 
especially  as  they  said  the  ablest  among  them  could  not  declare 
their  cause  more  fully  than  it  had  been  done  already.  An  ab- 
stract of  the  debate  on  this  occasion  has  been  preserved.t  and 
exhibits  in  strong  colors  their  determined  purpose  to  resist  the 
right  of  supervision  or  appeal.  A  very  curious  and  subtle  dis- 
tinction was  taken  between  such  commands  of  the  king's  as  were 
beneficial  to  them,  and  such  as  were  not.|  It  was  argued  that 
the  civil  magistrate  was  a  minister  of  God  for  the  good  of  the 

*  See  "  Hutchinson's  History  of  the  Colonies,"  vol.  in.  p.  412. 
t  See  the  Danforth  Papers  in  vol.  xix.  Massachusetts  Hist.  Col. 
t  See  Gobbet's  letter  in  note  to  Hutchinson's  History,  vol.  1.  p.  253. 


i!4  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

people,  and  so  far  as  his  injunctions  tended  to  their  advantage, 
ought  to  be  obeyed  for  conscience  sake,  but  none  would  say  it  was 
for  the  benefit  of  a  colony  to  send  away  its  rulers ! 

In  the  mean  time  the  confederation  of  Massachusetts,  Connecti- 
cut, and  Plymouth,  was  again  renewed  by  commissioners  from 
the  respective  provinces,  who  entered  into  an  offensive  and  defens- 
ive alliance.  This  convention  increased  the  confidence  of  the 
people  in  their  own  strength,  by  giving  unity  to  their  designs,  and 
vigor  to  their  conduct.  When  assembled,  they  represented  a  very 
extensive  country,  and  a  large  population,  and  naturally  encour- 
aged each  other  in  struggling  for  independence,  which  was  their 
motive  for  settling  in  America,  and  the  inheritance  they  hoped 
to  leave  to  their  children. 

A  new  .interest,  however,  had  now  sprung  up  in  England, 
adverse  to  the  pretensions  of  the  colonists,  that  enlisted  the  people 
on  the  side  of  the  king,  which  it  was  easy  to  fortell  would  soon 
overpower  them.  The  commerce  of  the  American  provinces,  as 
we  have  seen,  had  already  been  regulated  and  restrained  by  Parlia- 
ment. It  was  now  considered  a  proper  object  for  taxation. 
Duties  were  laid  upon  certain  enumerated  articles,  which  were 
to  be  collected  in  a  new  manner.  The  management  of  this 
branch  of  revenue  was  committed  to  local  officers,  to  be  appointed 
by  the  commissioners  of  the  customs  in  England.  The  duties  of 
tonnage  and  poundage  had  been  extended  to  every  dominion  of 
the  Crown  at  the  Restoration,  but  this  was  the  first  act  which 
imposed  imposts  on  the  colonies  alone  (1662),  to  be  regularly 
collected  by  provincial  revenue  officers.  The  former  acts  had 
not  only  been  evaded,  but  openly  disregarded  by  the  people  of 
Boston;  and  the  English  merchants  complained  that  they  traded 
directly  to  various  ports  in  Europe,  and  invited  foreigners  to  visit 
them ;  that  they  supplied  the  adjoining  plantations  with  the 
productions  of  other  nations,  which  ought  to  be  sent  to  Great 
Britain  alone ;  that,  having  thus  made  Massachusetts  the  great 
emporium  for  America,  the  commerce  of  the  kingdom  was  great- 
ly prejudiced,  the  national  resources  impaired,  and  the  people  im- 
poverished. They  also  added,  that  such  abuses  would  at  once 
destroy  the  trade  of  England,  and  effectually  relieve  the  colonies 
from  any  sort  of  dependence  on  the  parent  country.  The  interest 
at  stake  was  too  vas,t  and  too  important  to  be  trifled  with.  The 
governors  were  therefore  commanded,  by  royal  authority,  to  enforce 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  115 

a  strict  obedience  to  the  laws  of  trade.  Commissions  were  trans- 
mitted, empowering  proper  persons  to  administer  an  oath,  framed 
to  secure  their  strict  observance.  To  add  weight  to  these  meas- 
ures, it  was  determined  "  that  no  Mediterranean  passes  should  be 
granted  to  New  England,  to  protect  its  vessels  against  the  Turks, 
till  it  should  be  seen  what  dependence  it  would  acknowledge  on 
his  Majesty,  or  whether  his  custom-house  officers  should  be  re- 
ceived as  in  other  colonies." 

In  order  to  counteract  the  effects  of  the  unfavorable  report  of 
the  Commissioners,  and  to  allay  the  irritation  arising  from  so 
many  grievous  complaints,  it  was  deemed  advisable  by  the  Gene- 
ral Court  spontaneously  to  make  some  concessions,  which,  if  they 
did  not  wholly  answer  their  avowed  purpose,  would  at  least  en- 
able them  to  procrastinate  awhile  longer,  and  retain  the  advant- 
age that  might  be  offered  by  time  or  opportunity.  They  there- 
fore passed  an  act  to  punish  high  treason  with  death,  and  another 
requiring  all  persons  above  sixteen  years  of  age  to  take  the  oath 
of  allegiance,  on  pain  of  fine  and  imprisonment ;  the  governor, 
his  deputy,  and  the  magistrates,  having  first  taken  the  same, 
without  reservation,  in  the  words*  sent  them  in  the  royal  mandate. 
The  king's  arms  were  also  ordered  to  be  carved  and  put  up  in 
the  Court-house.  Randolph,  who  had  suffered  imprisonment 
with  Sir  Edmund  Andross,  and  had  never  forgotten  or  forgiven 
the  injuries  then  received,  had  carried  to  England  very  exagger- 
ated accounts  of  the  wealth  and  population  of  Massachusetts,  and 
now  returned  empowered  to  administer  to  the  New  England 
governor  an  oath  to  enforce  the  acts  of  trade.  In  Massachusetts 
it  was  peremptorily  refused,  on  the  ground  that  no  such  oath 
was  required  by  the  charter.  They,  however,  enacted  one  of  their 
own  on  the  subject,  and  voted  a  present  to  the  king  of  some  cran- 
berries, a  special  good  samp.,  as  they  were  designated,  and  also 
some  cod-fish,  cured  after  the  manner  of  the  country. 

They  were  again  admonished  by  his  Majesty,  who  appears  to 
have  treated  them  with  great  consideration,  to  send  agents  to 

*  The  form  of  the  oath,  as  previously  existing,  is  one  of  the  most  evasive  and 
loose  ever  constructed.  It  is  in  the  following  words:  "Whereas  I,  A.  B.,  am 
nn  inhabitant  within  this  jurisdiction,  considering  how  I  stand  obliged  to  the 
King's  Majesty,  his  heirs  and  successors,  by  our  charter  and  the  government 
established  thereby,  &c.,  swear,  by  the  great  and  dreadful  name  of  the  everlast- 
ing God,  that  1  will  bear  faith  and  true  allegiance  to  our  so\ereign  Lord  the 
King, his  heirs  and  successors.  So  help  me  God." 


116  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

England,  with  full  power  to  answer  for  them,  and,  in  the  mean 
time,  required  their  immediate  compliance  with  the  several  in- 
junctions contained  in  the  previous  mandate.  Having  so  often 
found  safety  in  delay,  they  persevered  in  this  system  of  procrasti- 
nation, alleging  as  an  excuse,  the  dangers  of  the  sea,  the  agent 
for  Connecticut  having  been  recently  captured  by  the  Algerines, 
and  the  heavy  debt  of  the  colony,  which  made  it  almost  incapa- 
ble of  the  expense.  At  last,  however,  the  orders  were  repeated, 
in  such  a  peremptory  manner,  that  compliance  could  no  longer  be 
deferred,  and  they  were  accordingly  appointed,  but  strictly  com- 
manded not  to  do  or  consent  to  any  thing  that  should  violate  or 
infringe  the  liberties  and  privileges  granted  by  the  charter,  or  the 
government  established  by  its  authority. 

It  was  difficult  to  submit  to  the  laws  of  trade  on  two  grounds : 
first,  they  interfered  with  the  growth  and  prosperity  of  Boston ; 
and  secondly,  being  acts  of  a  foreign  power,  they  could  not  well 
be  acknowledged  without  admitting  the  authority  that  made 
them.  The  king,  finding  that  nothing  effectual  was  done  to 
suppress  these  irregularities,  deemed  it  necessary  to  send  over  a 
custom-house  officer  with  a  suitable  commission  for  executing  his 
important  and  delicate  task.  He  was  furnished  with  letters  both 
mandatory  and  introductory  to  the  local  government,  and  influ- 
ential inhabitants,  to  support,  aid,  and  countenance  him  in  his 
office.  It  required  a  man  of  no  ordinary  nerve  to  attempt  to 
carry  out  such  instructions,  in  defiance  of  a  whole  community. 
Such  a  person,  however,  was  Randolph,  who  was  selected  for  the 
purpose. 

Against  this  appointment  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Col- 
onies very  properly  remonstrated.  They  reported  to  his  Majesty, 
"  that  no  good  was  to  be  expected  from  the  single  endeavor  of 
one  man,  till  by  a  general  reformation  of  abuses,  New  England 
is  reduced  to  such  dependence  as  is  yielded  by  the  other  col- 
onies." 

They  also  suggested  that  the  only  effectual  remedy,  "  was  a 
governor  wholly  supported  by  the  king."  The  wisdom  of  this 
recommendation  is  evinced  by  the  whole  subsequent  history  of 
the  British  possessions  in  America.  Had  it  been  acted  upon,  it 
would  have  saved  innumerable  disputes  and  embarrassments ; 
but  like  all  the  advice  offered  to  that  monarch,  it  was  received, 
approved,  and  forgotten. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  117 

As  soon  as  Randolph  landed,  he  was  regarded  as  a  spy  and  an 
enemy,  arid  was  not  only  received  with  coldness,  but  encountered 
obstruction  and  insult,  both  from  the  government  and  the  people. 
He  was  not  altogether  unprepared  for  the  result,  for  he  had  pre- 
viously been  informed  by  the  governor,  Mr.  Leverett,  in  plain 
language,  that  he  did  not  acknowledge  the  authority  of  Parlia- 
ment. 

"  I  called  his  attention,"  says  the  collector  in  his  report,  "  to 
the  fact  that  several  vessels  had  arrived  from  Spain,  France, 
Straights,  Canaries,  and  other  parts  of  Europe ;  contrary  to  his 
Majesty's  laws  for  encouraging  navigation,  and  regulating  the 
trade  of  the  plantations.  He  freely  declared  to  me,  that  the 
laws  made  by  your  Majesty  and  your  Parliament  oblige  them  in 
nothing,  but  what  consists  with  the  interest  of  that  colony  ;  that 
the  legislative  power  is,  and  abides  in  them  solely  to  act  and 
make  laws  by  virtue  of  the  charter ;  that  all  matters  in  differ- 
ence are  to  be  conducted  by  their  final  determination  without 
appeal,  and  that  you  ought  not  to  retrench  their  liberties,  but 
may  enlarge  them  if  you  please ;  and  said  that  your  Majesty 
could  do  no  less  than  let  them  enjoy  their  rights  and  trade,  they 
having  upon  their  own  charge,  and  without  any  contribution 
from  the  Crown,  made  so  large  a  plantation  in  the  wilderness." 

In  addition  to  the  odium  resulting  from  enforcing  laws  so  re- 
pugnant to  the  prejudices  and  interests  of  the  people,  Randolph 
was  also  received  with  great  dislike  as  an  Episcopalian,  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  Bishop  of  London,  and  the  avowed  advocate  for 
the  settlement  of  a  clergyman  of  the  Established  Church  in  Bos- 
ton. No  Englishman  was  ever  hated  and  dreaded  as  much  as 
Randolph  (whom  they  called  their  evil  genius),  for  he  was  reso- 
lute, persevering,  well-informed,  and  devoted  to  the  cause  of  the 
king,  and  what  he  esteemed  to  be  the  rights  of  England.*  But 
what  can  one  man  do  when  the  governor,  the  council,  the  as- 
sembly, the  judges,  the  jury,  and  the  mob,  are  all  opposed  to 
him,  his  office,  and  his  claims  ?  He  returned  to  London  to  ex- 
hibit another  instance  in  his  own  person  of  the  utter  inutility  of 
attempting  to  enforce  obedience  in  a  colony,  that  is  virtually 
independent,  without  a  total  alteration  in  the  structure  of  its 
government,  or  the  aid  of  a  military  force.  His  personal  and 

*  He  made  eight  voyages  to  England  in  nine  years. 


118  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

official  influence  was  such,  that  to  anticipate  his  complaints  they 
voluntarily  made  some  partial  concessions.  They  passed  an  act, 
giving  authenticity  and  efficacy  to  many  of  the  navigation  laws, 
thereby  adopting  them  as  their  own,  in  preference  to  admitting 
their  validity.  The  governor  took  the  oath  of  office  extracted 
from  the  English  statutes,  and  rendered  necessary  by  their  own. 
They  modified  their  Jewish  code  of  jurisprudence,  and  enrolled 
the  commission  of  the  obnoxious  officer. 

These  compliances  induced  his  Majesty  to  try  them  a  little 
longer,  and  the  collector  was  sent  out,  contrary  to  his  own  opin- 
ion, to  make  another  attempt  to  discharge  his  duty,  and  found, 
as  he  expected,  that,  notwithstanding  all  their  professions,  their 
conduct  and  their  principles  were  unchanged.  Immediately  on 
his  arrival,  he  addressed  a  letter  to  the  governor,  demanding  the 
final  resolution  of  the  court,  whether  it  would  admit  his  commis- 
sion to  be  in  force  or  not,  that  he  might  know  how  to  deport  him- 
self. Of  this  communication  they  took  no  notice  whatever,  under 
the  impression  that  a  reply  might  hereafter  rise  up  in  judgment 
against  them  ;  but  they  thought  that  an  exhibition  of  contempt 
for  him  and  his  embarrassments  was  quite  compatible  with  pru- 
dence, for  it  must  be  felt  to  be  appreciated,  and  is  incapable  of 
description.  They  maintained  silence,  however,  no  longer  than 
was  necessary  to  avoid  committing  themselves.  He  was  soon 
given  to  understand  what  he  had  to  expect  at  their  hands. 
Finding  he  could  obtain  no  reply,  he  set  up  a  notice  on  the  town- 
house,  informing  the  public  of  his  commission  as  collector  of  cus- 
toms, that  he  had  opened  an  office  for  that  purpose,  and  required 
all  persons  interested  to  comply  with  the  prescribed  forms.  The 
court  immediately  ordered  the  marshal  to  remove  the  presump- 
tuous advertisement,  and  adopted  other  measuses  that  effectually 
defeated  all  his  attempts  to  exercise  his  delegated  authority.  If 
he  prosecuted  for  a  penalty,  he  was  compelled  to  lodge  caution- 
money  to  respond  the  costs  ;  and  if  it  came  to  trial,  he  either  lost 
his  cause  and  his  deposit,  or  the  penalty  was  claimed  by  the  local 
government. 

Every  body  was  against  him.  Strange  rumors  reached  him 
that  were  not  to  be  disregarded.  His  life  was  threatened.  He 
knew  his  men ;  he  felt  that  they  were  capable  of  any  acts  of 
violence,  when  they  thought  their  rights  infringed,  and  that  their 
penal  laws  were  neither  obsolete  nor  dormant,  but  executed  with 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  119 

a  vigor  and  severity  wholly  unrestrained  by  considerations  of 
mercy,  or  fear  of  consequences.  He  was  given  to  understand,  if 
he  persevered  in  seizing  vessels,  and  embarrassing  their  trade,  he 
should  be  apprehended,  tried,  convicted,  and  executed,  under  a 
local  statute,  that  made  any  attempt  to  subvert  their  chartered 
liberties  a  capital  offense.  He  was,  therefore;  under  the  neces- 
sity of  once  more  withdrawing  to  England,  where  he  exhibited 
seven  formal  articles  of  high  misdemeanors  against  the  General 
Court,  They  were  brief,  perspicuous,  and  capable  of  proof,  and 
carried  conviction  on  the  face  of  them.  The  king's  patience  was 
exhausted  ;  he  threatened  them,  if  they  did  not  immediately  send 
agents  duly  authorized  to  act  and  submit  to  them,  a  quo  war- 
ranto  should  issue  immediately.  It  was  not  now  the  complaint 
of  Randolph  alone  that  they  had  to  answer,  but  the  remon- 
strances of  the  whole  mercantile  and  manufacturing  interests  of 
the  kingdom.  The  just  displeasure  of  an  offended  monarch,  and 
the  well-founded  fears  of  English  statesmen  that  America  was 
aiming  at  independence,  required  the  exercise  of  all  their  ingenu- 
ity and  address.  Two  delegates  were  sent  to  England,  commis- 
sioned, as  usual,  "  to  avoid  or  delay,"  to  obtain  what  they  could, 
but  to  make  no  concessions. 

It  was  a  time  of  general  gloom  in  the  colony.  The  king's 
power  was  increasing  in  England.  He  was  carrying  on  %a  suc- 
cessful war  against  charters  :  even  London  had  lost  hers,  and  how 
could  they  suppose  they  were  to  escape  ?  Every  thing  seemed  to 
conspire  against  them.  They  were  at  last  somewhat  divided  in 
opinion  among  themselves,  whether  it  would  not  be  better  to 
yield ;  and  their  unity,  in  which  had  consisted  their  strength, 
was  shaken.  Could  it  be  a  judgment  from  Heaven  upon  them 
for  their  offenses  ?  Could  their  recent  toleration  of  sectaries  have 
drawn  down  on  their  heads  judicial  punishment  ?  They  were 
the  chosen  people  of  the  Lord.  In  giving  way  to  the  wishes  of 
a  prelatic  king,  by  adopting  human  laws  instead  of  those  of 
Moses,  which  they  had  lately  so  impiously  repealed,  it  was  pos- 
sible that  disobedience  might  have  deserved  and  received  chas- 
tisement. 

Something  very  remarkable,  it  was  generally  believed,  was 
about  to  take  place,  for  the  air  was  filled  with  strange  sounds, 
and  the  darkness  illuminated  with  wondrous  lights.  Two  enor- 
mous comets  had  traversed  the  heavens,  and  carried  terror  into 


120  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

every  heart,  as  they  were  the  sure  and  certain  forerunners  of 
calamities  to  fallen,  sinful  man.  Two  of  the  largest  fires  ever 
then  known  in  North  America,  had  nearly  consumed  Boston ; 
the  first  destroying  forty-five  houses,  beside  numerous  large  stores, 
and,  what  showed  the  l)ivine  vengeance  of  the  devouring  flame 
more  than  all,  a  meeting-ttouse ;  the  second  burning  up  more 
than  eighty  dwellings  and  seventy  warehouses,  with  several  ves- 
sels and  their  cargoes. 

A  synod  was  called  of  all  the  clergy  in  Massachusetts.  It 
was  an  unusual  occasion,  and  the  prayers  of  the  whole  body  were 
needed.  The  preachers  proved,  to  the  entire  satisfaction  of  the 
people,  that  they  could  expect  no  blessing  if  they  continued  to 
allow  the  Lord's  heritage  to  be  invaded  by  prelacy  and  dissent, 
or  relinquish  the  privileges  of  His  elect.  The  drooping  spirits  of 
the  people  revived,  and  they  expressed  their  determination  to 
stand  or  fall  by  their  charter,  and  to  make  no  surrender. 

On  the  arrival  of  the  agents  in  England,  it  was  found  that 
their  instructions  did  not  contain  sufficient  authority  to  enable 
them  to  treat  on  behalf  of  the  colony.  They  were  ordered  to 
procure  more  comprehensive  powers,  but  the  General  Court  re- 
fused to  enlarge  them.  Their  mi  sion  was  thus  brought  to  a 
close,  and  a  quo  warranto  issued  in  the  usual  form,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  putting  an  end  to  the  charter. 

Hitherto,  the  local  government  had  depended  upon  their  allies, 
the  Liberals.  The  connection  had  always  been  one  of  conven- 
ience rather  than  regard,  for  they  mutually  despised  each  other. 
The  Provincials  coalesced  with  that  party,  because  they  had  a 
more  republican  tendency  than  the  Tories,  and  courted  the  sup- 
port of  the  enemies  of  the  Church  ;  but  they  loathed  their  profli- 
gacy, their  disregard  of  all  principle,  and  their  readiness  to  sacri- 
fice patriotism  for  place,  and  consistency  for  the  emoluments  of 
office.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Liberals  knew  the  importance  of 
so  large  and  influential  a  body  as  the  Sectarians,  and  were  well 
skilled  in  inflaming  their  passions,  pandering  to  their  prejudices, 
and  rendering  their  discontent  and  their  union  subservient  to  their 
own  schemes  of  ambition.  But  while  they  used  them,  they  ridi- 
culed them  ;  and  their  ignorant  zeal,  hypocritical  pretensions,  and 
extravagant  language  of  cant,  afforded  them  inexhaustible  sub- 
jects for  satire.  It  was  an  age  when  the  leaders  of  the  two  ex- 
tremes of  sanctimonious  and  dissolute  modes  found  their  greatest 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  121 

safety  in  embracing  each  other.  Knowing  that  the  Liberals 
were  always  venal,  and  having  succeeded  in  seducing  the  clerks 
of  the  public  offices  (if  there  can  be  seduction  where  there  is  no 
virtue),  and  kept  them  on  pay  to  betray  their  trusts,  they  were 
always  constantly  and  accurately  informed  of  the  secrets  of  State, 
and  furnished  with  copies  of  all  Minutes  of  Council,  memorials, 
or  complaints,  affecting  their  interests,  as  well  as  the  names  of 
those  members  that  voted  for  or  against  them. 

They  now  conceived  the  plan  of  concentrating  their  gratuities 
and  tempting  the  cupidity  of  the  king,  and  most  unblushingly 
offered  him  a  bribe  of  two  thousand  guineas.*  His  thoughtless 
dissipation,  lavish  profusion,  and  unquenchable  thirst  for  means 
to  gratify  his  extravagant  habits,  were  well  calculated  to  lower 
himself  and  his  monarchy  to  the  level  of  republicans.  The  agents 
did  not  underrate  his  honor,  but  they  overvalued  their  own  dex- 
terity. Had  it  been  delicately  managed — for  he  was  fastidious 
in  his  appetites — it  is  to  be  feared  he  would  have  had  as  little 
virtue  to  resist,  as  they  had  honesty  to  offer  the  temptation ;  but 
the  coarseness  of  the  execution,  if  possible,  surpassed  the  baseness 
of  the  design,  and  it  failed  of  success  as  much  on  account  of  its 
grossness,  as  its  immorality. 

It  was  a  great  mortification  to  both.     The  king  concealed  his 

*  The  proofs  of  these  charges  are  abundant.    The  following  will  suffice  : 

"From  the  Clerks  of  the  Privy  Council,  who  were  retained  on  treacherous 
pay,  they  procured  the  strictest  information,  and  even  the  State  papers.  Per- 
fectly acquainted  by  this  means  with  European  affairs,  the  ruling  men  at  Bos- 
ton were  able  to  draw  every  advantage  from  distractions,  either  to  act  witb 
moderation  or  firmness." — Chlm.  Col.  vol.  I.  p.  129.  [Chelmus  held  the  impor- 
tant office  of  Head  Clerk  to  the  Committee  of  the  Privy  Council,  and  is  therefore 
good  authority] . 

"Having  long  corrupted  his  servants,  they  now  attempted  to  bribe  himself  by 
an  offer  of  two  thousand  guineas." — Chlm.  Col.  vol.  i.  p.  133.  "  Massachusetts 
was  willing  to  bribe  the  Monarch  into  clemency  toward  its  liberties." — Ban. 
Hist.  vol.  n.  p.  123.  "  Cranfield  advised  tendering  two  thousand  guineas  for  the 
king's  private  service.  The  Court  agreed  to  the  proposal,  and  showed  him  the 
letter  they  had  written  to  their  agent  thereon." — Hutch.  Hist.  vol.  I.  p.  337. 

"  Major  Thompson  would  make  better  use  of  your  funds  for  your  advantage. 
His  employment  in  the  East  India  Company  gives  him  frequent  access  to  Courti 
where  he  hath  opportunity  to  give  a  feeling  to  such  classes  of  the  Council  as 
may  serve  you  with  true  intelligence.  They  have  been  there  two  years  raising 
money  upon  the  poor  inhabitants  to  make  friends  at  Court.  Certainly  they  have 
some  there  too  nigh  the  Council  Chamber,  otherwise  they  could  not  have  copies 
of  my  petition  against  the  Government,  my  articles  of  high  misdemeanors,  and 
now  of  Cranfield's  instructions." — Letter  of  Randolph  to  Clarendon,  June  \lth, 
1682. 

F 


122  THE    ENGLISH    IX   AMERICA. 

chagrin  under  a  well-turned  point.  He  said  the  Puritans  were 
unrelenting  foes,  they  had  deprived  his  sainted  father  of  his  life, 
and  now  they  would  rob  him  of  what  he  prized  more  highly,  his 
honor.  The  agents  were  covered  with  shame,  and  were  pointed 
at  wherever  they  went  as  hypocrites,  who  had  the  depravity  of 
courtiers,  without  their  practical  adroitness,  or  polished  manner  to 
conceal  it.*  They  returned  as  soon  as  possible  to  Boston  from 
their  fruitless  mission,  and  arrived  on  the  23d  of  October,  and  the 
same  week  were  followed  by  the  indefatigable  Randolph,  with 
the  quo  ^varranto. 

At  the  same  time  his  Majesty  made  one  effort  more  to  bring  this 
protracted  contest  to  an  end,  and  condescended  again  to  entreat 
them  to  submit,  promising  at  the  same  time  to  make  as  few  alter- 
ations in  their  patent  as  possible,  consistently  with  the  support  of  a 
royal  government.  In  this  desperate  situation  the  question  was  de- 
bated, both  in  the  General  Court,  and  among  the  inhabitants  at 
large,  whether  it  were  better  to  make  ample  submission  to  the  king, 
or  suffer  matters  to  take  their  course.  The  Government,  however, 
and  the  people,  true  to  the  principles  they  had  ever  professed,  de- 
termined it  was  better  to  die  by  the  hands  of  others,  than  to  com- 
mit a  suicidal  act  themselves,  by  surrendering  a  charter,  under 
which  they  had,  for  a  period  of  fifty  years,  enjoyed  internal  and 
external  independence.  The  General  Court  assembled  and  de- 
bated the  subject  for  a  fortnight.  The  upper  branch  was  divided 
in  opinion,  but  moderate  counsels  prevailed,  and  the  majority 
passed  a  resolution  not  to  contend  with  his  Majesty  at  law,  but 
rather  throw  themselves  on  his  mercy,  and  to  send  agents  to  re- 
ceive the  royal  commands.  This  vote  was  sent  to  the  Chamber 
of  Deputies,  according  to  the  usual  form,  for  their  concurrence.! 

*  Truly,  sir,  if  you  could  see  how  we  are  ridiculed  by  our  best  friends  at  Court, 
it  would  grieve  you. — Dudley's  Letter  to  Bradstreet,  February,  1682. 

t  The  vote  was  as  follows :  "  The  magistrates  have  voted  that  an  humble  ad- 
dress be  sent  to  bis  Majesty  by  this  ship,  declaring  that,  upon  a  serious  consid- 
eration of  his  Majesty's  gracious  intimations,  in  his  former  letters,  and  more  par- 
ticularly in  his  late  declaration,  that  his  pleasure  and  purpose  is  only  to  regulate 
our  charter  in  such  a  manner  as  shall  be  for  his  service,  and  the  good  of  this  his 
colony,  and  without  any  other  alteration  than  what  is  necessary  for  the  support 
of  his  government  here ;  we  will  not  presume  to  contend  with  his  Majesty  in 
a  court  of  law,  bat  humbly  lay  ourselves  at  his  Majesty's  feet,  in  a  submission 
to  his  pleasure  so  declared,  and  that  we  have  resolved  by  the  next  opportunity 
to  send  our  agents,  empowered  to  receive  his  Majesty's  commands  accordingly. 
And,  for  savine  a  default  of  non  appearance  upon  the  return  of  the  writ  of  quo 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  123 

The  clergy  took  the  alarm  and  effectually  prevented  its  passage 
through  the  lower  house.  It  was  the  last  time  they  were  ever 
ahle  to  exert  the  same  influence.* 

The  arguments  on  this  occasion  (though  not  in  the  shape  of 
modern  reports)  are  preserved  in  the  valuable  and  interesting 
collection  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society  :  the  substance 
I  find  elsewhere  thus  condensed.  Ought  the  government  of 
Massachusetts  (thus  it  was  argued)  submit  to  the  pleasure  of  the 
Court,  as  to  alteration  of  their  charter  ?  Submission  would  be  an 
offense  against  the  Majesty  of  Heaven.  The  religion  of  the  people 
of  New  England,  and  the  Court's  pleasure  can  not  consist  to- 
gether. By  submission  Massachusetts  will  gain  nothing.  The 
Court  designs  an  essential  alteration,  destructive  to  the  vitals  of 
the  charter.  The  corporations  in  England  that  have  made  an 
entire  resignation,  have  no  advantage  over  those  who  have  stood 
a  suit  in  law.  But  if  we  maintain  a  suit,  though  we  should  be 
condemned,  we  may  bring  the  matter  to  Chancery  or  to  Parlia- 
ment, and  in  time  recover  all  again.  We  ought  not  to  .act  con- 
trary to  that  way  in  which  God  hath  owned  our  worthy  prede- 
cessors, who  in  1638,  when  there  was  a  quo  warranto  against 
the  charter  durst  not  submit.  In  1664  they  did  not  submit  to 
the  Commissioners.  We,  their  successors,  should  walk  in  their 
steps,  and  so  trust  in  the  God  of  our  fathers,  that  we  shall  see 
His  salvation.  Submission  would  gratify  our  adversaries,  and 
grieve  our  friends.  Our  enemies  know  that  it  will  sound  ill  in 
the  world,  for  them  to  take  away  the  liberties  of  a  poor  people  of 
God  in  a  wilderness.  A  resignation  will  bring  slavery  upon  us 
sooner  than  it  otherwise  would  be,  and  will  grieve  our  friends  in 
other  colonies,  whose  eyes  are  now  upon  New  England,  expecting 
that  the  people  there  will  not  through  fear  give  a  pernicious  ex- 
ample unto  others.  Blind  obedience  to  the  pleasure  of  the  Court, 
can  not  be  without  great  sin,  and  incurring  the  high  displeasure 
of  the  King  of  Kings  ;  submission  would  be  contrary  unto  that 

warranto,  that  some  meet  person  or  persons  be  appointed  and  empowered,  by 
letter  of  attorney,  to  appear  and  make  a  defense,  until  our  agents  may  make 
their  appearance  and  submission  as  above.  The  magistrates  have  passed  this 
with  reference  to  the  consent  of  their  brethren  and  the  deputies  hereto. 

"  EDWARD  R.AWSON,  Secretary." 

*  "  The  clergy  turned  the  scale  for  the  last  time.  The  balance  which  they 
bad  held  from  the  beginning,  they  were  allowed  to  retain  no  longer." — Hutchin- 
son. 


124  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

which  has  been  the  unanimous  advice  of  the  ministers,  given  after 
a  solemn  day  of  prayer.  The  ministers  of  God  in  New  England 
have  more  of  the  spirit  of  John  the  Baptist  in  them,  than  now, 
when  a  storm  hath  overtaken  them,  to  be  reeds  shaken  with  the 
wind.  The  Priests  were  to  be  the  first  that  set  their  feet  in  the 
waters,  and  there  to  stand  till  the  danger  be  past ;  of  all  men 
they  should  be  an  example  to  the  Lord's  people  of  faith,  courage 
and  constancy.  Unquestionably  if  the  blessed  Cotton,  Hooker, 
Davenport,  Shepherd,  and  Mitchell,  were  now  living,  they  would, 
as  is  evident  from  their  printed  books,  say,  '  Do  not  sin  in  giving 
away  the  inheritance  of  your  fathers.' 

"  Nor  ought  we  to  submit  without  the  consent  of  the  body 
of  the  people.  But  the  freemen  and  Church  members  through- 
out New  England  will  never  consent  hereunto.  Therefore,  the 
Government  may  not  do  it.  The  civil  liberties  of  New  En- 
gland are  part  of  the  inheritance  of  their  fathers,  and  shall  we 
give  that  inheritance  away  ?  Better  suffer  than  sin.  It  is  bet- 
ter to  trust  the  God  of  our  fathers,  than  to  put  confidence  in 
princes.  If  we  suffer  because  we  dare  not  comply  with  the 
wills  of  men,  against  the  will  of  God,  we  suffer  in  a  good  cause, 
and  shall  be  accounted  martyrs  in  the  next  generation,  and  at 
the  Great  Day."  The  vote  was  finally  sent  back  with  the 
following  decision.  "  The  Deputies  consent  not." 

The  proprietors  resident  in  England,  with  one  exception  only, 
ashamed  of  conduct  they  could  not  justify,  disclaimed  the  usurp- 
ation. Craddock,  their  former  governor,  after  some  little  show 
of  deference,  suffered  a  default  to  be  entered,  and  the  rest  of  the 
patentees  stood  outlawed.  The  General  Court,  consistent  to 
the  last,  made  one  more  attempt  at  delay  and  supplication.  In 
an  address,  most  humble  in  language,  but  firm  in  purpose,  they 
excused  themselves  from  sending  home  the  charter,  on  pretense 
that  judgement  had  been  passed  against  it,  upon  a  quo  war- 
ranto,  and  declared  if  they  had  been  duly  notified,  no  doubt  they 
could  have  put  in  a  sufficient  plea  to  it ;  that  if  they  should 
transmit  it,  they  would  be  looked  upon  as  runagates  and  out- 
laws ;  that  the  common  people  would  think  that  his  Majesty  had 
cast  them  off;  and  that  they  would  for  their  safety  confederate 
themselves  under  a  new  government,  which  would  be  of  dan- 
gerous example  to  other  plantations. 

"  We  do  not  question  your  proceedings,"  they  said,  in  conclu- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  125 

eion,  "  we  only  desire  to  open  our  griefs  where  the  remedy  is  to 
be  expected,  and  we  are  told  to  renew  our  humble  supplication 
to  your  Lordships,  that  we  may  be  suffered  to  live  here  in  this 
wilderness,  and  that  this  poor  plantation,  which  hath  found  more 
favor  with  God  than  many  others,  may  not  find  less  favor  with 
the  King."  A  semi-official  reply  was  returned  by  the  Lords 
Commissioners  through  the  medium  of  Mr.  Craddock.  They 
again  called  upon  the  corporation  to  send  home  the  charter  ; 
and,  as  an  earnest  of  their  benevolent  designs,  authorized  its 
present  Government  to  continue  until  a  new  patent  should  pass 
the  seals. 

In  addition  to  this  memorial,  they  availed  themselves  of  the 
want  of  a  formal  service  of  the  order,  and  accordingly  voted  to 
take  no  notice  of  it;  "for,"  said  the  members  in  their  debates, 
"  it  is  unofficial,  and  the  Lords  Commissioners  can  not  proceed 
upon  it,  since  they  can  obtain  no  proof  that  it  was  delivered  to 
the  Governor  ;"  and,  the  better  to  insure  this  result,  they  direct- 
ed Mr.  Craddock's  agent,  when  he  again  wrote  to  his  principal, 
not  to  mention  the  receipt  of  his  last  letter.  But  this  technical 
objection  availed  not,  and  a  judgment  was  entered  on  the  quo 
icarranto,  in  Trinity  Term,  1684,  a  copy  of  which  reached 
Boston  on  the  3d  day  of  July,  1685,  and  put  an  end  to  the 
ancient  Government  of  Massachusetts. 

Thus  fell  the  first  American  Republic,  after  an  existence 
of  more  than  fifty  years  ;  "  but  with  it,"  says  a  distinguished 
author,*  "  fell  not  the  habits  nor  the  principles  which  the  settle- 
ment of  the  country  had  engendered.  These  were  for  a  time 
slightly  hidden  in  its  fall,  but  soon  sprang  up  again,  more  deeply- 
rooted  and  renovated  with  permanent  strength ;  nor  have  they 
ceased  to  flourish,  till,  in  their  turn,  they  have  overrun,  and 
probably  forever,  buried  every  germ  of  royal  authority  in  that 
republican  soil." 

It  is  not  my  object  to  animadvert  on  the  conduct  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Massachusetts,  but  to  record  so  much  of  their  history 
as  is  necessary  to  establish  the  proposition  I  set  out  with,  namely, 
that  American  democracy  does  not  owe  its  origin  to  the  revolution, 
and  to  the  great  statesmen  that  framed  the  Federal  Constitution  ; 
but  that  it  existed  in  the  country  from  the  earliest  period,  and 

*  Minot. 


126  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

that  a  republic  de  facto  was  founded  at  Boston,  in  1630,  which 
sub&isted  in  full  force  and  vigor  for  more  than  half  a  century. 
After  the  narration  contained  in  these  pages  of  its  rise,  progress, 
and  termination,  I  think  no  one  can  entertain  a  doubt  that  the 
independence  of  the  States  conferred  little  or  nothing  on  Massa- 
chusetts that  she  did  not  enjoy  under  her  first  charter,  unless  it 
be  an  exemption  from  the  restrictions  on  her  trade,  imposed  by 
the  navigation  laws.  Her  internal  sovereignty  indeed  was  more 
complete  than  it  is  now,  for  all  the  delegated  powers  given  to 
Congress,  the  National  Judicatory,  and  other  federal  institutions, 
is  so  much  withdrawn  from  what  she  then  possessed  and  retained 
in  her  own  hands. 

It  is  not  my  province  to  subject  the  pretensions  of  this  people 
to  the  ordeal  of  criticism.  If  it  were,  however,  it  would  be  found 
that  though  the  means  used  for  their  defense  were  not  always 
such  as  could  be  approved,  there  is  much  to  admire  in  their  his- 
tory. Having  removed  the  charter  to  America,  and  boldly 
usurped  the  power  of  independent  self-government,  that  act  must 
be  carefully  distinguished  from  the  rest  of  their  conduct,  and 
separately  considered  with  reference  to  its  legality  or  morality. 
Their  subsequent  defense,  of  what  they  conceived  to  have  been 
their  chartered  privileges,  was  always  skillful  and  persevering, 
and  often  manly.  It  would  be  unfair  to  view  them  through  the 
medium  of  loyalist  prepossessions.  They  were  not  rebels,  for  they 
did  not  profess  to  be  subjects.  And  be  it  remembered  the  dis- 
tinction they  took  between  local  and  general  allegiance  has  the 
authority  of  high  names  to  sanction  it.  They  were  not  at  that 
time  so  much  endeavoring  to  sever  the  connection  with  England, 
as  to  protect  themselves  from  aggression.  If  they  were  intolerant, 
it  was  the  vice  of  the  age.  If  their  negotiations  with  the  parent 
country,  through  the  instrumentality  of  their  agents,  were  some- 
times deficient  in  frankness  and  sincerity,  they  are  qualities 
which  have  never  been  ascribed  to  diplomacy,  and  there  is  no 
reason  to  charge  them  exclusively  with  faults,  from  which,  un- 
happily, no  people  were  ever  exempt.  Nothing  could  be  more 
natural,  nothing  more  plausible,  and,  I  might  almost  say,  nothing 
more  reasonable,  than  their  claim  to  the  territory  they  inhabited. 
Unlike  other  colonists  of  modern  times,  they  had  not  received 
any  thing  from  England  that  demanded  their  gratitude.  They 
made  the  province  themselves.  It  is  cultivation  and  population 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  127 

alone  that  stamp  a  value  on  land.  The  cold,  barren,  and  inhos- 
pitable country  comprised  within  their  grant,  was  scarcely  worthy 
of  acceptance,  certainly  not  of  purchase,  at  the  date  of  their 
patent.  The  fostering  hand  of  the  parent  state  was  never  extend- 
ed to  them.  They  cleared  the  interminable  forests,  they  resisted 
the  assaults  of  the  savages,  and  the  encroachments  of  the  French. 
They  built  up  their  villages,  extended  their  settlements,  erected 
their  fortifications,  founded  their  schools,  supported  their  clergy, 
and  established  and  maintained  the  government,  not  only  without 
the  aid  of  England,  but  under  many  discouragements,  and  in  the 
face  of  opposition. 

The  annals  of  colonization  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  an  effort 
so  distinguished  for  courage,  industry,  perseverance,  frugality,  and 
intelligence.  Their  descendants  have  reason  to  be  proud  of  the  im- 
perishable monument  their  ancestors  thus  erected,  in  the  great 
American  wilderness,  of  their  own  fame.  Is  it  then  to  be  wondered 
at,  if  they  loved  so  dearly,  and  defended  so  strongly,  a  possession 
so  peculiarly  their  own  ?  and  must  we  not  in  fairness  admit,  if 
they  called  sophistry  in  aid  of  their  claim  to  independence,  that 
England,  to  maintain  her  title  by  discovery,  had  not  in  reality 
much  better  or  sounder  grounds  to  proceed  upon.  The  right  of 
Europeans  to  America  will  not  bear  a  very  close  investigation, 
but  the  pioneers  who  settled  it,  under  the  circumstances  I  have 
mentioned,  might  well  be  excused,  if  they  thought  their  preten- 
sions quite  equal  to  those  who  had  first  sailed  along  the  coast,  and 
called  it  their  own. 

Their  faults  were  engendered  by  the  age  in  which  they  lived, 
their  seclusion  from  the  world,  the  severity  of  their  morals,  and 
the  confused  and  imperfect  knowledge  they  had  of  the  relative 
obligation  of  the  Old  and  New  Testament;  and  as  it  would  be 
manifestly  unjust  to  omit  those  circumstances  that  palliated  or 
accounted  for  their  conduct,  so,  on  the  other  hand,  the  narrative 
would  be  equally  incomplete  if  no  mention  were  made  of  their 
glaring  inconsistencies.  By  quitting  the  reformed  and  pristine 
Church  of  England  to  which  they  belonged,  they  gave  up  fixed 
principles  for  the  unsettled  license  of  that  unmeaning  term, 
Protestantism,  and  decent  and  necessary  ceremonies,  for  an  ex- 
emption from  all  orders  and  established  observances.  They 
measured  what  they  were  by  what  they  were  not ;  and,  as  they 
p^tested  against  the  errors  of  Popery,  very  complacently  assumed 


128  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

that  the  whole  Roman  Church  was  a  vast  and  complicated  error, 
and  that  whatever  she  did  not  believe,  practice,  or  enforce — and 
that  only — was  primitive.  In  their  pious  horror  of  its  unauthor- 
ized assumptions,  they  adopted  a  system  that  consisted  of  nothing 
else  but  human  inventions.  They  resisted  a  prelate  with  disdain, 
for  the  Pope  was  a  bishop.  They  suppressed  confirmation,  trans- 
ferred ordination  to  the  brethren,  and  marriage  to  the  civil  magis- 
trate ;  and,  as  prelatic  clergy  bowed  in  reverence,  and  kneeled  in 
supplication,  they  abolished  both  as  superstitions,  and  voted  to 
stand  up  boldly  before  their  Maker,  and  plead  guilty  or  not  guilty 
like  men.  They  did  not  think  it  scriptural  to  call  the  Apostles 
saints,  who  were  unlettered  men  like  Congregationalists  (with  no 
other  possible  advantage  but  the  accidental  one  of  being  inspired), 
but  they  thought  it  by  no  means  superstitious  to  appropriate  the 
designation  to  themselves,  or  to  regard  old  women  as  witches, 
and  consistent  with  religion  to  execute  them.  They  denied  the 
authority  of  the  General  Council,  composed  of  learned  divines,  but 
they  established  synods,  consisting  of  men  who  compensated  for 
their  want  of  erudition  by  their  superior  gifts  of  extemporaneous 
preaching.  They  maintained  the  right  of  private  judgment  in 
religion,  but  they  hanged  Quakers  ;  for  it  was  manifest  that  they 
who  differed  from  them  had  no  judgment  whatever.  Determined 
to  limit  the  -authority  of  the  clergy,  they  elected  and  ordained 
them  themselves,  and  gave  them  to  understand  that  the  same 
power  that  made  could  discharge  them.  They  then,  with  singu- 
lar inconsistency,  invested  them  With  privileges  that  made  them 
infinitely  more  despotic  than  those  of  any  Church  in  the  world. 
They  emigrated,  they  said,  to  avoid  persecution.  More  than  fifty 
years  elapsed  before  the  Church  of  England  could  compel  them 
to  be  tolerant.  The  fact  that  religious  liberty  was  forced  upon 
them  by  her  efforts,  is  a  triumphant  answer  to  the  calumnies  that 
have  been  so  liberally  heaped  upon  her  by  sectarians  and  Roman- 
ists, at  home  and  abroad. 

This  is  the  natural  effect  of  schism.  But  the  blame  belongs 
not  to  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  more  than  to  others.  Dis- 
sent has  no  resting-place.  There  are  regions  yet  unexplored, 
where  the  adventurers  who  are  in  advance  of  their  nation,  and 
dwell  on  the  borders  of  "ivilization,  may  push  their  discovery,  and, 
like  the  Mormons,  enjoy  the  revelation  of  prophets  of  their  own. 

Although  we  must  now  take  leave  of  these  republican  colonists, 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  129 

we  shall  still  continue  their  history  during  the  interval  that 
elapsed  before  the  arrival  of  the  new  charter,  when  it  will  be  a 
more  agreeable  duty  to  examine  the  institutions  they  planted  in 
the  country,  the  beneficial  effects  of  which  are  still  felt  and  ac- 
knowledged throughout  the  United  States.  I  shall  next  give  a 
brief  view  of  the  condition  of  the  other  provinces  at  this  period, 
which  forms  a  great  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  country,  and  after- 
ward trace  the  progress  of  democracy  in  this  continent  during  the 
existence  of  the  royal  government,  until  it  attained  that  strength 
and  maturity  that  enabled  it  boldly  to  assert,  and  manfully 
achieve,  its  absolute  independence. 

F* 


BOOK  II, 


CHAPTER   I. 

Indignation  and  Grief  of  the  Colonists  at  the  Loss  of  their  Charter — Death  of 
Charles  II. — Accession  of  James  II. — Apprehensions  of  having  Colonel  KirKe 
as  Governor — Some  Account  of  him — Mr.  Dudley  appointed  President,  w!:o, 
with  the  Assistance  of  six  Councilors,  undertakes  the  Government — Protest 
of  the  Magistrates  agninst  the  Suppression  of  the  Legislature — Unpopularity 
of  the  President — Description  of  the  Territory  within  his  Jurisdiction — Some 
Account  of  Maine  and  New  Hampshire,  and  the  Intrigues  of  Massachusetts  to 
extend  its  Authority  over  them — Desire  of  Charles  II.  to  confer  the  former  on 
the  Duke  of  Monmouth,  and  to  establish  a  Royal  Government  in  the  Latter — 
Both  comprehended  within  the  Commission  of  President  Dudley — Character 
of  his  Administration. 

WE  have  seen  in  the  foregoing  chapters  how  constantly  this 
people  asserted  and  maintained  their  independence  from  the  day 
they  first  landed  in  the  colony  until  the  charter  was  revoked. 
The  loss  of  their  liberty  filled  them  with  grief,  and  indignation. 
They  had  always  dreaded  interference,  and  had  hitherto  resisted 
ir  evaded  every  attempt  of  the  king,  the  Parliament,  or  the 
hierarchy  to  control  them.  This  continued  watchfulness,  and 
anxious  jealousy,  had  infused  into  their  minds  suspicion  of  the 
designs,  and  distrust  of  the  good  faith  of  England  ;  but  the  loss 
of  their  patent  inspired  feelings  of  hatred  for  what  they  called  the 
wantonness  of  invasion,  and  of  revenge  for  the  humiliation  of 
defeat.  Unable  to  defend  themselves,  they  were  compelled  to 
yield  to  superior  power ;  but  if  they  could  not  openly  contend, 
they  could  at  least  harass.  If  they  could  not  recover  the  country 
they  had  cleared  and  planted,  they  felt  they  could  make  it  an  un- 
comfortable abode  for  their  victors.  In  the  age  in  which  they 
lived,  they  knew  they  must  have  some  form  of  constitutional 
government,  and  some  fundamental  rights  conceded  to  them,  and 
that  the  exercise  of  those  privileges  in  a  spirit  of  bitterness  and 
uncompromising  obstinacy  must  necessarily  embarrass  any  ad- 
ministration, and  render  the  possession  of  the  colony  as  useless  to 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  131 

the  English,  as  their  presence  and  interference  was  distasteful  to 
them. 

Thus  the  republicanism  of  America  may  be  traced  to  its  first 
settlement,  but  the  intense  hatred  of  the  Imperial  Government, 
that  gave  stability  and  strength  to  the  anti-monarchical  principles, 
and  finally  led  to  the  overthrow  of  British  rule,  must  be  dated  in 
1684  (the  period  when  they  lost  their  charter).  It  is  not  easy, 
at  this  distance  of  time,  for  persons  practically  unacquainted  with 
the  untiring  zeal,  the  malignant  revenge,  intrepid  courage,  and 
martyr  spirit  of  fanaticism,  to  comprehend  the  full  force  of  the 
rage  and  disaffection  with  which  the  Provincials  were  maddened 
at  the  overthrow  of  their  little  sovereignty.  The  revocation  by 
Charles  II.  of  the  patent  of  Massachusetts  was  the  first  step 
taken  in  a  great  scheme  of  reform  he  had  conceived  for  the  trans- 
atlantic plantations.  The  inconsiderate  manner  in  which  he  had 
disposed  of  a  large  portion  of  his  American  territory,  the  little 
control  he  had  reserved  to  himself  in  the  charters  he  had  given 
to  several  colonies,  and  the  difficulty  he  found  in  enforcing  obedi- 
ence to  the  laws  of  trade,  as  well  as  the  increasing  growth  of 
democracy  among  the  people,  admonished  him  that  they  all  «e- 
quired  remodeling.  By  commencing  with  the  most  refractory, 
he  gave  warning  to  the  others,  that  he  had  at  last  become  sen- 
sible of  the  error  of  his  past  inconsistencies,  and  was  resolved  on 
vigorous  conduct  for  the  future.  He  died  before  he  could  put 
any  of  his  plans  into  execution,  and  the  task  devolved  upon  his 
brother,  James  II. 

The  first  measure  of  the  new  monarch  was  to  make  a  tem- 
porary provision  for  the  government  of  Massachusetts,  in  order 
to  give  him  time  to  mature  and  arrange  the  details  of  a  com- 
prehensive system  of  colonial  policy.  His  very  name  inspired 
terror  and  dislike  into  the  minds  of  the  nonconformists.  Their 
fears  derived  additional  intensity  from  a  rumor  that  reached 
them,  that  the  noted  and  detestable  Colonel  Kirke  was  to  be 
imposed  upon  them  as  governor.  To  receive  a  stranger  at  all  in 
that  capacity  from  the  hands  of  others,  when  they  had  been  in 
the  habit  of  filling  the  office  by  election  themselves,  was  an  in- 
tolerable grievance,  but  to  submit,  to  a  man  who  was  only  known 
for  his  atrocious  butcheries,  required  a  Christian  meekness  for 
which  they  could  find  neither  example  nor  authority  in  Puritan- 
ism. 


132  THE    ENGLISH   IN  AMERICA. 

Kirke  was  a  soldier  of  fortune,  who  had  long  served  at  Tan 
giers,  and  had  contracted,  from  his  intercourse  with  the  Moors, 
a  taste  for  executions  that  astonished  and  alarmed  the  inhabit- 
ants of  England.  After  the  defeat  of  Monmouth,  he  gratified 
his  appetite  for  blood  at  the  expense  of  the  unfortunate  and  mis- 
guided prisoners.  At  his  first  entry  into  Bridgewater,  he  hanged 
nineteen  prisoners  without  the  least  inquiry  into  the  merits  of 
their  case.  As  if  to  make  sport  with  death,  he  ordered  a  certain 
number  to  be  executed,  while  he  and  his  company  should  drink 
to  the  health  of  the  king,  or  the  queen,  or  that  of  the  Chief 
Justice  Jeffreys.  Observing  their  feet  to  quiver  in  the  agonies 
of  death,  he  said  he  would  give  them  music  to  their  dancing,  and 
immediately  ordered  the  drums  to  beat,  and  the  trumpets  to 
sound.  By  way  of  experiment,  he  ordered  one  man  to  be  hung 
up  three  times,  questioning  him  at  each  interval,  whether  he 
repented  of  his  crime  ;  but  the  prisoner  obstinately  asserting,  that 
notwithstanding  the  past,  he  still  would  willingly  engage  in  the 
same  cause,  Kirke  ordered  him  to  be  hung  in  chains.  All  the 
inhabitants  of  the  adjoining  county,  innocent  as  well  as  guilty, 
were  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  this  barbarian.  The  soldiery 
were  let  loose  to  live  at  free  quarters ;  and  his  own  regiment, 
instructed  by  his  example,  distinguished  themselves  in  a  particu- 
lar manner  by  their  outrages.  By  way  of  pleasantry,  he  used  to 
call  them  his  latnds,  an  appellation  which  was  long  remembered 
with  horror  in  the  west  of  England.* 

It  was  some  consolation  to  them  to  find  that  instead  of  this 
monster,  Mr.  Dudley,  a  native  of  the  colony,  who,  though  now 
unpopular,  had  once  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  people,  and 
served  as  their  agent  in  England,  had  been  appointed  president, 
and  several  members  of  the  Upper  House  as  councilors.  This 
act  relieved  their  apprehensions,  and  quieted  their  fears,  but  it 
did  not,  as  it  was  supposed,  win  their  affection.  They  were 
pacified  from  time  to  time,  but  never  conciliated.  They  sighed 
for  their  past  independence,  and  moaned  over  their  lost  republic. 
They  submitted  to  the  English  as  their  masters,  but  ever  evinced 
a  sullen  discontent,  a  refractory  stubbornness,  and  an  intractable 
disposition.  Mr.  Dudley  was  strongly  urged  not  to  accept  the 
office,  for  he  who  receives  a  delegated  commission,  and  acts  upon 
it,  tacitly  but  assuredly  admits  the  right  of  the  granter.  Even 
*  These  particulars  are  extracted  from  Hume, 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  133 

his  councilors  joined  in  these  expostulations,  and  the  court  made 
the  following  protest : 

"  GENTLEMEN — We  have  perused  what  you  left  with  us,  as  a 
true  copy  of  his  Majesty's  commission,  showed  to  us  the  17th 
instant,  empowering  you  for  the  governing  of  his  Majesty's  sub- 
jects inhabiting"  this  colony,  and  other  places  therein  mentioned. 
You  then  applied  to  us,  not  as  a  Governor  and  a  company,  but 
(as  you  were  pleased  to  term  us),  some  of  the  principal  gentlemen 
and  chief  inhabitants  of  the  several  towns  of  Massachusetts ; 
among  other  discourse,  saying  it  concerned  us  to  consider  what  there- 
in might  be  thought  hard  and  uneasy.  Upon  perusal  whereof 
we  find  as  we  conceive :  1st.  That  there  is  no  determinate  rule 
for  your  administration  of  justice  ;  and  that  which  is  seems  to  be 
too  arbitrary.  2d.  That  the  subjects  are  abridged  of  their  liberty 
as  Englishmen,  both  in  the  matters  of  legislation,  and  in  laying 
of  taxes ;  and  indeed  the  whole  unquestioned  privilege  of  the 
subject  transferred  upon  yourselves,  there  not  being  the  least 
mention  of  an  assembly  in  the  commission,  and  therefore  we 
think  it  highly  concerns  you  to  consider  whether  such  a  commis- 
sion be  safe  for  you  or  us ;  but  if  you  are  so  satisfied  therein  as 
that  you  hold  yourselves  obliged  thereby,  and  to  take  upon  you 
the  government  of  this  people,  although  we  can  not  give  our 
assent  thereto,  yet  we  hope  we  shall  demean  ourselves  as  true 
and  loyal  subjects  to  his  Majesty,  and  humbly  make  our  addresses 
unto  God,  and  in  due  time  to  our  gracious  Prince  for  our  relief. 

"May  20,  1686." 

It  was  known  that  the  commission  was  a  temporary  expedient 
to  give  legal  sanction  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Government,  until 
a  form  of  constitution  could  be  agreed  upon ;  but  the  acceptance 
of  it  by  Mr.  Dudley  was  considered  an  act  of  treachery,  if  not  of 
treason  to  his  country,  and  was  punished  accordingly  by  the 
total  and  irretrievable  loss  of  his  popularity  *  and  influence,  and 
by  the  sleepless  watchfulness  of  his  offended  countrymen,  who  lost 
no  opportunity  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  either  of  damag- 
ing his  reputation,  or  thwarting  his  advancement.! 

*  An  abstract  of  the  commission  may  be  found  in  vol.  v.  Hist.  Coll.  of  Mass., 
and  in  Belknap's  History  of  New  Hampshire, 
t  At  a  subsequent  period,  when  imprisoned,  during  the  rebellion  that  preced- 


134  THE   ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

The  commission  of  the  President  included  the  Narragansett  or 
King's  Province,  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  the  two  last  of 
which  had  been  the  subject  of  much  litigation  and  difficulty  for 
many  years.  We  have  already  seen  how  desirous  Massachusetts 
ever  was  of  enlarging  her  boundaries  and  of  assuming  jurisdiction 
over  vacant  possessions  or  feeble  neighbors.  The  territory  com- 
prised within  what  now  forms  the  States  of  New  Hampshire  and 
Maine,  offered  too  great  a  temptation  to  her  cupidity  to  be  resist- 
ed ;  and  I  have  reserved  to  this  place  an  account  of  her  aggres- 
sion at  different  times  to  avoid  repeated  references,  and  to  pre- 
serve the  continuity  of  the  narrative.  The  first  was  granted  as 
early  as  1635  to  Captain  Mason,  and  the  latter  to  Sir  Ferdinando 
Georges,  who  severally  formed  small  settlements  in  them,  that 
derived  subsistence  from  the  soil,  and  some  little  profit  from  the 
fisheries  and  free-trade.  Ten  years  afterward,  some  persons  who 
had  adopted  heretical  opinions,  and  rendered  themselves  obnoxious 
to  the  Government  of  Massachusetts,  removed,  either  under  the 
pretense,  or  in  open  contempt  of  grants  of  the  proprietors,  to  the 
banks  of  the  river  that  divided  the  two  provinces,  and  associated 
themselves,  as  it  was  then  called,  by  entering  into  a  mutual  com- 
pact for  self-government. 

Although  differing  in  many  points  of  doctrine  from  their  friends 
at  Boston,  they  were  united  by  the  common  ties  of  descent  and 
interest.  Their  more  powerful  neighbor  and  parent  state,  by 
claims  of  jurisdiction  which  they  were  unable  to  resist,  or  prom- 
ises of  protection  from  the  Indians,  of  which  they  stood  greatly  in 
need,  prevailed  upon  them  to  place  themselves  under  her  control, 
and  by  degrees  they  became  both  merged  in  the  ambitious  and 
growing  little  republic.  Charles  II.  strove  in  vain  to  re-invest 
the  heirs  of  the  grantees  with  the  possession.  The  rule  of  the 
"  old  colony"  was  more  congenial  to  the  feelings  of  the  people 
than  that  of  a  monarch  three  thousand  miles  off,  who  had  as  li ttle 

ed  the  proclamation  of  William  and  Mary,  there  was  a  strong  party  for  trying 
and  executing  him.  Fear  of  consequences  alone  prevented  the  people  from 
resorting  to  these  desperate  measures.  Danforth  thus  writes  to  Mather  :  "  Mr. 
Dudley  is  in  a  peculiar  manner  the  object  of  the  people's  displeasure,  even 
throughout  all  the  colonies  where  he  sat  as  judge  ;  they  deeply  resent  his  cor- 
respondence with  that  wicked  man,  Randolph,  for  overturning  the  Government. 
The  Governor  and  Council,  though  they  have  done  their  utmost  to  procure  his 
enlargement,  yet  can't  prevail ;  but  the  people  will  have  him  in  jail,  and 
when  he  hath  been  by  order  turned  out,  by  force  and  tumult  they  fetch  him  in 
again,"  Sec. — Hntchinson,  vol.  r. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  135 

interest  in  their  affairs  as  power  to  enforce  his  authority.  The 
Commissioners  to  whom  I  have  referred  re-established  in  1665 
the  government  of  Mason  and  Georges,  but  they  had  no  sooner 
departed  for  Europe  than  the  General  Court  invaded  the  terri- 
tory, and  by  force  of  arms  resumed  their  former  jurisdiction.  Ir- 
ritated at  this  open  defiance,  Charles  II.  threatened  to  restrain 
their  commerce,  and  they  finally  yielded  to  menace,  which  they 
knew  he  could  execute,  what  they  denied  to  demands  unsupport- 
ed by  a  military  force  on  the  spot.  After  a  vexatious  and  expens- 
ive litigation,  the  claim  of  the  plaintiffs  was  sanctioned  by  the 
decision  of  an  English  court,  and  their  opponents  were  compelled 
to  confine  themselves  within  their  original  limits. 

This  investigation  brought  to  light  a  fact  not  then  generally 
known,  that  the  proprietors  of  New  Hampshire  were  entitled  to 
the  soil  alone  under  the  patent  to  their  ancestor,  while  the  heirs 
of  Sir  Ferdinando  Georges  had  a  right  both  to  the  country  and  the 
government.  In  consequence  of  this  discovery  the  king  was  de- 
sirous of  purchasing  Maine  for  his  son,  the  Duke  of  Monmouth ; 
but  while  he  was  in  treaty  for  it,  Massachusetts,  informed  of  his 
intention  by  the  clerks  in  the  public  offices,  whom  they  kept  in. 
their  pay,  and  having  the  requisite  means  at  their  command, 
bought  it  from  the  owners,  whose  title  had  been  established  by  a 
legal  decision.  The  remonstrances  of  the  sovereign  was  as  un- 
availing as  all  his  other  expostulations  and  threats.  They  enter- 
ed into  immediate  possession,  and  governed  it  by  officers  of  their 
own  as  a  "  Colony  from  the  Mother  Province." 

Disappointed  in  obtaining  Maine,  the  king  attempted  in  1679 
to  found  a  "  Royal  Province  in  New  Hampshire,"  and  appointed 
a  governor,  whom  he  invested  with  the  requisite  powers,  but  he 
found  it  easier  to  grant  a  commission  than  to  enforce  obedience  to 
it.  This  was  the  first  constitution  of  the  kind  in  New  England. 
It  contained  more  essential  freedom,  though  less  independence, 
than  the  republic  of  Massachusetts.  It  consisted  of  a  President 
and  Council,  and  a  House  of  Assembly,  and  secured  a  reservation 
of  the  king's  negative.  The  Upper  House  was  made  a  court  of 
record  for  the  trial  of  all  causes  whether  civil  or  military,  subject 
to  an  appeal  of  all  matters  above  fifty  pounds,  and  was  empower- 
ed to  appoint  officers,  and  take  efficient  measures  for  the  defense 
of  the  country.  Liberty  of  conscience  was  allowed  to  all  Protest- 
ants, but  the  Church  of  England  was  especially  to  be  encour- 


^36  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

aged.  Upon  this  Belknap,  in  his  "  History  of  New  Hampshire" 
(a  work  written  in  an  able  and  impartial  manner,  and  in  a  very 
agreeable  style)  remarks,  "  Had  such  a  simple  form  of  government 
been  more  generally  adopted,  and  perscveringly  adhered  to,  and 
administered  only  by  the  most  delicate  hands,  it  might  have 
served  better  than  any  other  to  perpetuate  the  dependence  of  the 
colonies  on  the  British  Crown." 

The  first  act  of  the  legislature  plainly  disclosed  the  overpower- 
ing influence  of  Massachusetts,  derived  from  a  congeniality  of  re- 
ligious and  political  opinions.  They  commenced  their  labors  by 
an  assertion  of  right  "  that  no  act,  imposition,  law,  or  ordinance, 
shall  be  valid  unless  made  by  the  Assembly,  and  approved  by  the 
people."  The  experiment,  as  might  have  been  expected,  proved 
abortive.  The  fanatical  preachers,  goaded  on  by  their  brethren 
in  New  England,  urged  the  people  first  to  passive  resistance,  and 
then  to  armed  rebellion  ;  and  although  the  President  was  able  to 
support  the  first  outbreak,  he  found  it  necessary  to  fly  for  his  life 
from  the  second.  When  surrendering  his  commission,  he  ob- 
served that  "  while  the  clergy  are  allowed  to  preach  to  a  mu- 
tinous people,  no  true  allegiance  would  be  found  there.  On  my 
retirement,  the  world  will  see  that  it  is  the  royal  commission 
they  cavil  at,  and  not  my  person ;  and  time  will  show  that  no 
one  will  be  accepted  by  them  who  put  the  king's  commands 
into  execution." 

The  succeeding  governor  endured  the  same  insults,  and  en- 
countered the  same  defiance,  and  added  his  testimony  to  that  of 
his  predecessor,  "  Unless  these  factious  preachers  are  turned 
out  of  the  colony,  there  will  be  disquiets  here,  as  no  Pope 
ever  acted  with  greater  arrogance ;  and  without  some  force  to 
keep  this  people  under,  it  will  be  very  difficult,  if  not  an  im- 
possible thing  to  put  into  execution  his  Majesty's  orders,  or  the 
laws  of  trade." 

Warned  by  these  failures,  both  these  districts  were  now  compre- 
hended in  the  temporary  commission  of  President  Dudley,  and  long 
after  remained  united  with  Massachusetts.  Such,  however,  are 
the  uncertainties  which  attend  human  schemes,  that  now  that  the 
charter  was  forfeited,  the  leaders  in  these  intrigues  were  mortified 
to  find  that  they  had,  by  their  own  usurpations  and  acts,  enlarged 
the  limits  of  a  royal  colony.  The  inhabitants  of  both  dependen- 
cies were  no  less  humiliated  by  the  reflection,  that  by  lending 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  137 

themselves  to  a  fraud  on  individual  rights,  and  regal  authority, 
they  had  lost  the  benefit  of  a  local  government,  while  they  were 
too  poor  and  too  few  in  number  to  have  either  weight  or  influ- 
ence in  the  one  they  had  struggled  to  establish.  Instead  of  van- 
quishing the  king,  they  had  injured  their  own  cause  ;  and  while 
they  were  congratulating  themselves  on  the  success  of  their  efforts, 
they  made  the  unwelcome  discovery  that  victory  is  sometimes 
more  ruinous  than  defeat. 

The  administration  of  Dudley  was  of  short  duration.  It  was 
not  probable,  it  was  ever  in  the  contemplation  of  James  to  con- 
tinue him  for  any  length  of  time  in  his  office.  He  was  a  colo-. 
nist,  and  would  have  been  both  unfit  and  unwilling  to  have  be- 
come the  instrument  of  his  arbitrary  measures.  It  was  manifest 
that  he  considered  it  but  a  temporary  arrangement  himself.  As 
far  as  possible,  he  suffered  the  old  order  of  things  to  continue. 
Although  in  obedience  to  his  commission  the  House  of  Represent- 
atives was  laid  aside,  the  magistrates  and  select-men  discharged 
their  several  duties  as  heretofore  ;  and  as  little  was  done  by  him 
as  was  compatible  with  the  exigencies  of  the  country.  He  was 
long  enough  in  office,  however,  thoroughly  to  dissatisfy  both  the 
king  and  the  people.  He  had  not  exerted  himself  in  a  manner 
that  was  agreeable  to  his  royal  master  in  giving  effect  to  the 
laws  of  trade,  nor  had  he  enforced  prompt  obedience  to  his  orders, 
which  was  expected  of  him.  On  the  other  hand,  he  had  done 
too  much  to  render  himself  popular  with  the  people.  He  was 
not  elected  by  them,  and  they  regarded  him  as  an  usurper.  He 
was  a  native,  and  his  acceptance  of  office  under  a  tyrant  was 
viewed  as  the  act  of  a  traitor.  He  had  subverted  their  constitu- 
tion which,  by  the  law  of  the  land,  was  a  capital  offense  ;  and  if 
they  had  had  the  power,  the  inclination  was  not  wanting  to  have 
made  him  undergo  the  extreme  penalty.  Such  is  ever  the  fate 
of  undecided  measures,  and  of  attempts  to  conciliate  the  regard 
of  two  irreconcilable  parties. 

Each  thinks  that  too  much  has  been  sacrificed  to  the  other, 
and  both  complain  that  too  little  deference  has  been  paid  to  their 
respective  claims  or  wishes,  while  the  unsuccessful  politician  has 
seldom  the  approbation  of  his  own  conscience  to  sustain  him  in 
his  miscarriage. 

"  I  warned  thee,"  said  one  of  the  preachers  to  Dudley,  with 
that  mixture  of  cant  and  insolence  that  always  rendered  them  so 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

intolerable.*  "  I  warned  thee  to  be  watchful,  and  strengthen 
the  things  that  remain  that  are  ready  to  die,  but  thou  wouldst 
not ;  and  now  because  thou  art  lukewarm,  and  neither  hot  nor 
cold,  I  will  spew  thee  out  of  my  mouth." 

During  his  short  administration,  he  discovered  that  temporary 
popularity  may  be  acquired  by  an  affability  of  manner,  or  the 
arts  of  intrigue  ;  but  that  character  has  no  sure  and  solid  founda- 
tion, but  in  honesty  of  purpose  and  vigor  of  conduct.  It  was  a 
valuable  lesson ;  and  in  after  days,  he  had  a  conspicuous  oppor- 
tunity, as  we  shall  see,  to  practice  successfully  what  he  had  so 
dearly  acquired. 

*  The  character  of  the  people  is  not  to  be  sought  for  in  the  history  of  the 
colony  only,  for  their  public  affairs  were  managed  by  men  of  education  and 
experience,  but  recourse  must  be  had  to  their  correspondence  among  them- 
selves, and  to  documents  that  have  merely  a  local  bearing.  The  primitive 
manners  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  rural  districts  may  be  judged  of  by  the  fol- 
lowing letter  of  Captain  Chudworth  to  the  Governor  of  New  Plymouth,  declin- 
ing a  military  command  : 

"  MITCH  HONORED — My  service  and  due  respect  being  presented,  yours  of  the 
19th  December,  1673,  came  to  my  hands  the  last  day  of  that  month,  wherein 
your  honor  acquainted  me  that  the  General  Court,  by  a  clear  vote,  have  pitched 
upon  myself  to  command  an  hundred  men,  in  joining  with  the  rest,  in  prosecu- 
ting the  expedition  against  the  Dutch.  The  estate  and  condition  of  my  family 
is  such  as  will  not  admit  of  such  a  thing,  being  such  as  can  be  hardly  paral- 
leled, which  was  well  known  unto  some  ;  but  it  was  not  well  nor  friendly  done 
as  to  me,  nor  faithful  as  to  the  country,  if  they  did  not  lay  my  condition  before 
the  Court.  My  wife,  as  is  well  known  to  the  whole  town,  is  not  only  a  weak 
woman,  and  has  been  so  all  along;  but  now,  by  reason  of  age,  being  sixty-seven 
years  and  upward,  and  nature  decaying,  so  her  illness  grows  more  strongly 
upon  her ;  never  a  day  passes  but  she  is  forced  to  rise  at  break  of  day  or 
before.  She  can  not  lay  for  want  of  breath  :  and  when  she  is  up,  she  can  not 
light  a  pipe  of  tobacco,  but  it  must  be  lighted  for  her ;  and  until  she  has  taken 
two  or  three  pipes,  for  want  of  breath,  she  is  not  able  to  stir,  and  she  has  never 
a  maid.  That  day  your  letter  came  to  my  hands,  my  maid's  year  being  out, 
she  went  away,  and  I  can  not  get  nor  hear  of  another.  And  then  in  regard  for 
my  occasion  abroad,  for  the  tending  and  looking  after  all  my  creatures,  the 
fetching  home  my  bay  that  is  yet  at  the  place  where  it  grew,  getting  of  wood, 
going  to  mill,  and  for  the  performing  all  other  family  occasions,  I  have  none  but 
a  small  Indian  boy  about  thirteen  years  of  age  to  help  me. 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"JAMES  CHUDWORTH. 

"To  the  much  honored  Joseph  Winslow, 
"  Governor  of  New  Plymouth, 

"Scituate,  the  16th  of  January,  1673." 


CHAPTER  II. 

Arrival  of  Sir  Edmund  Andross — Fears  entertained  of  the  King- — His  Conduct 
toward  New  York — His  Opinions  of  popular  Assemblies — Commission  to  An- 
dross— Two  Companies  of  Soldiers  sent  to  Boston — Law  relative  to  Mar- 
riages— Manner  of  imposing  Taxes — Punishment  of  those  who  refuse  to  pay 
Rates — Episcopal  Clergymen  prevented  by  the  Mob  from  reading  the  Burial 
Service — Preachers  attack  the  Governor  for  his  Toleration,  and  justify  com- 
pulsory Conformity — Arbitrary  Conduct  of  Andross  relative  to  Titles  of  Land 
— Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  New  York,  and  New  Jersey  united  to  Massa- 
chusetts— News  of  the  Arrival  of  the  Prince  of  Orange  in  England — False 
Rumors  spread  of  a  general  Massacre — Insurrection — Capture  and  Imprison- 
ment of  the  Governor  and  his  Councilors — Conduct  of  the  Magistrates  who  re- 
assume  the  old  Government — Sir  Edmund  escapes,  is  retaken  and  sent  to 
England,  when  he  is  released — Example  of  Massachusetts  followed  by  the 
other  Colonies — Bad  Effects  of  so  many  political  Changes  in  England — Re- 
marks on  the  Appointment  of  Andross  to  be  Governor  of  Virginia. 

AT  length,  Sir  Edmund  Andross  arrived  at  Boston  on  the  20th 
of  December,  1686,  with  a  commission  for  the  Government  of 
New  England.  This  was  the  first  direct  administration  by  a 
stranger  of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  colony,  and  the  first  speci- 
men the  people  had  of  the  reckless  manner  in  which  royal 
patronage  was  bestowed,  and  the  arrogance,  insolence,  and  op- 
pressions of  irresponsible  officials.  His  conduct  increased  and 
justified  the  universal  discontent.  It  did  not  alienate  the  affec- 
tions of  the  inhabitants,  for  they  were  already  irretrievably 
estranged,  but  it  strengthened  their  conviction  that  England's 
domination  was  incompatible  with  their  happiness,  as  it  was 
with  their  freedom. 

He  had  been  Governor  of  New  York,  and  had  also  directed 
the  affairs  of  Rhode  Island  ;  and  therefore  was  supposed  to  be 
well  acquainted  with  the  character  of  the  people  over  whom  he 
was  placed.  He  was  a  military  man  of  some  reputation,  and 
having  been  accustomed  to  obey,  as  well  as  to  command,  was 
well  suited  to  carry  out  the  orders  of  James,  who  was  prompt 
even  to  precipitation  in  action. 

The  new  monarch  had  been  more  conversant  with  colonization 
and  commercial  affairs  than  his  predecessor  ;*  and  commenced 

*  Hume  says  that  his  application  to  naval  affairs  was  successful,  his  encour- 
agement of  trade  judicious,  and  his  jealousy  of  national  honor  laudable.  He- 
oault,  in  his  History  of  France  (vol.  II.  p.  200)  says,  the  public  are  indebted  to 


140  THE   ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

with  vigor  and  ardor  the  difficult  task  of  reducing  the  planta- 
tions to  order,  and  to  a  more  immediate  dependence  on  the 
crown.  As  to  the  means,  as  had  been  predicted  by  those  who 
best  knew  his  temper  and  principles,  he  was  not  at  all  scrupu- 
lous. As  Duke  of  York,  and  proprietor  of  the  immense  colony 
that  bore  his  name,  he  had  three  years  before  conceded  to  it  a 
free  and  liberal  constitution,  and  guaranteed  to  the  people  uni- 
versal toleration,  trial  by  jury,  and  exemption  from  all  imposts, 
but  such  as  their  representatives  should  approve,  and  relinquished 
the  right  to  quarter  troops  on  the  inhabitants,  or  to  declare  mar- 
tial law.  He  no  sooner  ascended  the  throne  than  he  annulled 
his  own  acts ;  taxes  were  levied  by  ordinance,  titles  to  land  were 
questioned,  to  augment  fees  and  emoluments ;  and  of  those  per- 
sons who  remonstrated,  not  a  few  were  arraigned,  and  tried 
before  his  council. 

From  a  monarch  who  had  so  early  distinguished  himself  for  in- 
consistencies, there  was  little  to  be  hoped.  Although  warned  by 
his  legal  advisers,  that  the  colonists,  notwithstanding  their  char- 
ters were  vacated,  were  British  subjects,  and  as  such  entitled  to 
all  their  rights  and  privileges,  like  all  the  Stuarts,  he  thought 
his  prerogative  was  sufficient  for  his  purpose,  without  the  aid  of 
Parliament  to  make  laws  or  impose  duties.  His  instructions  to 
Andross  were  as  contradictory  as  his  own  character — at  once 
mild  and  severe,  considerate  and  tyrannical.  "  I  can  not  but  sus- 
pect," he  says  in  a  communication  to  him  relative  to  a  represent- 
ative body,  "  that  asemblies  would  be  of  dangerous  consequence, 
nothing  being  more  known  than  their  aptness  to  assume  to  them- 
selves many  privileges  which  prove  destructive  to,  or  very  often 
disturbed  the  peace  of  government  when  they  are  allowed. 
Neither  do  I  see  any  use  of  them.  Things  that  need  redress 
may  be  sure  of  finding  it  at  the  quarter  sessions,  or  by  the  legal 
and  ordinary  ways,  or  lastly  by  appeals  to  myself.  However,  I 
shall  be  ready  to  consider  of  any  proposal  you  shall  send." 

We  have  seen  that  Mr.  Dudley's  commission  extended  over 
New  Hampshire  and  Maine.  That  of  Andross  included  them  like- 
wise. The  king  invested  him  and  his  council  with  supreme 
jurisdiction,  and  empowered  them  to  make  laws,  and  execute 
them  ;  to  impose  taxes,  and  enforce  their  collection  :  and  to  sup- 

this  prince,  when  Duke  of  York,  for  the  contrivance  of  signals,  by  means  of 
flags  and  streamers. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  141 

port  the  vigor  of  the  administration,  two  companies  of  soldiers 
were  sent  to  Boston,  and  placed  at  his  disposal.  As  soon  as  he 
had  surveyed  the  field  before  him,  he  set  himself  industriously  to 
work  to  subvert  every  democratic  institution  in  the  country,  and 
to  devise  means  to  raise  a  revenue  by  pursuing  the  same  course 
that  had  been  adopted  in  New  York,  and  by  inventing  subtle 
excuses  for  forfeiting  real  estate.  It  was  not  long  before  the 
case  of  some,  who  apprehended  themselves  to  be  oppressed,  came 
under  consideration,  when  they  were  told  that  they  had  no  more 
privileges  left  them  than  not  to  be  sold  as  slaves ;  and  that  the 
benefit  of  the  law  of  England  did  not  follow  them  to  the  end  of 
the  earth,  which  they  soon  found  to  be  true,  although  their  dis- 
tance did  not  exempt  them  from  its  penalties.*  The  alarm 
caused  by  this  speech  was  deeply  felt  and  resented  by  the  whole 
country.  It  was  never  forgotten.  It  was  handed  down  from 
father  to  son  in  Massachusetts,  and  the  vows  of  vengeance  then 
recorded,  though  long  deferred,  were  remembered  and  fulfilled  at 
last  in  the  defeat  and  slaughter  of  the  royalists  at  the  revolution. 
One  of  his  first  acts  was  to  alter  the  law  relative  to  the  solem- 
nization  of  marriages.  Among  the  numerous  innovations  of  the 
Puritans  on  the  usages  of  their  ancestors,  was  one  to  render 
marriage  a  mere  civil  contract,  and  to  require  only  the  admission 
and  consent  of  the  parties  to  be  made  before  and  registered  by  a 
magistrate.  As  there  was  but  one  Episcopal  clergyman  in  the 
colony  at  the  time,  a  transfer  of  this  duty  to  the  Church  could 
not  well  be  effected,  but  it  was  ordered  for  the  present  that  none 
should  marry  unless  they  entered  into  bonds,  with  surety  to  the 
governor,  subject  to  forfeiture  if  it  should  afterward  appear  that 
there  existed  any  lawful  impediment.  For  this  license  a  liberal 
fee  was  exacted,  as  a  matter  of  course.  The  governor,  being  also 
ordinary,  assumed  as  such  the  whole  business  of  the  local  courts, 
and  compelled  the  people  of  the  rural  districts  to  attend  at  Boston, 
at  great  inconvenience,  for  the  probate  of  wills,  or  letters  of 
administration  ;  and  exacted  whatever  charges  he  thought  the 
estate  able  to  bear.  He  imposed  what  rates  he  thought  proper, 
with  no  other  sanction  than  that  of  a  few  complaisant  councilors, 
although  his  enemies  admit  that  the  sum  thus  raised  was  small 
in  amount,  and  required  arid  spent  for  the  public  service.  The 
principal  one  was  a  charge  of  one  penny  in  the  pound,  and  a  poll- 

*  Minot. 


142  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

tax  of  twenty-pence.  Direct  assessment  is  always  odious.  It 
brings  the  collector  and  rate-payer  in  immediate  contact,  and  the 
unpopularity  of  the  measure  is  often  increased  by  the  severity  or 
assumption  of  the  offic'er.  ' 

In  a  new  country,  though  the  necessaries  of  life  are  abundant, 
there  is  always  a  scarcity  of  money,  and  compulsory  contributions 
to  the  state  are  paid  with  the  utmost  reluctance.  Where  the 
authority  to  levy  the  tax  is  questioned,  resistance  is  the  natural 
result.  Upon  one  occasion,  when  the  inhabitants  of  Ipswich  re- 
fused to  assess  upon  themselves  the  proportion  assigned  to  the 
township,  and  the  select  men  voted,  "  That,  inasmuch  as  it  is 
against  the  privilege  of  British  subjects  to  have  money  raised 
without  their  own  consent,  in  a  Legislature  or  Parliament,  there- 
fore they  will  petition  the  king  for  liberty  of  an  Assembly  before 
making  any  rates,"  he  imprisoned  two  of  the  most  conspicuous 
of  the  remonstrants,  and  fined  the  others  severally  thirty,  forty, 
and  fifty  pounds,  according  to  their  circumstances  or  ability. 
When  they  complained  of  this  harsh  treatment,  he  took  some 
pains  to  trace  and  collect  the  numerous  precedents  set  him  by  his 
predecessors,  for  this  apparently  extraordinary  act  of  tyranny,  and 
with  more  sarcasm  than  policy,  asked  them  if  they  would  like 
to  have  other  similar  usages  of  their  forefathers  restored.  The 
General  Court,  he  observed,  always  prosecuted  a  man  for  appeal- 
ing to  England,  because  it  was  subversive  of  their  chartered 
rights,  and  if  his  petition  contained  complaints  also,  he  was  sub- 
jected to  an  aditional  penalty  for  slandering  the  brethren ;  but  that 
he  had  punished  them  for  disobedience  in  refusing  to  pay  their  taxes, 
and  for  nothing  else,  for  as  long  as  they  continued  to  obey  the  law, 
they  were  at  perfect  liberty  to  memorialize  the  king  as  much  and  as 
often  as  they  pleased.  The  truth  of  this  remark  was  so  apparent, 
and  so  conclusive,  that  it  was  felt  more  than  the  punishment. 

To  his  astonishment,  he  discovered  that  with  all  their  boasted 
love  of  liberty,  the  Puritans  had  reserved  this  inestimable  blessing 
exclusively  for  themselves,  and  he  soon  found  it  necessary  to  con- 
tinue and  preserve  another  of  their  institutions,  the  censorship  of 
the  press.  But  his  departure  from  the  fundamental  principle  of 
the  republic,  which  required  "  Church  membership,"  as  a  quali- 
fication for  civil  rights,  shocked  their  prejudice  more  than  can  be 
conceived  by  a  person  not  conversant  with  the  history  of  these 
early  times.  Although  they  had  themselves  affected  to  concede 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA  142 

toleration,  they  had  never  practically  acted  upon  their  professions, 
nor  had  it  ever  been  their  intention  to  do  so.  So  far  from  con- 
sidering the  liberty  of  conscience,  which  the  governor  had  granted 
to  all,  as  an  act  of  grace,  they  loudly  complained  of  it  as  an  open 
attack,  and  a  direct  persecution  of  themselves.  They  regarded 
it  as  the  triumph  of  Anti-christ,  and  considered  that  the  blessing 
of  God  would  be  withdrawn  from  a  country  which  admitted  the 
presence  of  clergymen  ordained  by  a  bishop,  instead  of  the  more 
inspired  because  more  ignorant,  and  more  pious  because  more  as- 
suming, lay  brethren.  It  was  in  vain  that  they  had  aided  the 
sectaries  in  England  to  sacrifice  Laud,  and  to  dethrone  and 
slaughter  their  sovereign,  if  prelacy  was  to  be  permitted  to  have 
the  slightest  footing  in  America ;  reason  and  Scripture  alike  led 
to  the  conclusion,  that  they  who  require  to  be  taught  are  the  best 
able  to  judge  of  the  qualifications  and  attainments  of  the  teacher, 
and  therefore  most  competent  to  invest  him  with  the  character 
and  office.  So  rigidly  had  the  exclusion  of  Episcopalians  been 
enforced,  that  when  the  Royal  Commissioners  were  at  Boston, 
there  were  not  enough  of  them  in  the  place  to  form  a  congrega- 
tion. We  are  informed  on  authority  that  can  not  be  doubted, 
"  that  most  of  the  inhabitants  who  were  on  the  stage  in  1686 
had  never  seen  a  Church  of  England  Assembly.  In  that  year 
there  was  but  one  Churchman*  in  the  government,  and  one  cap- 
tain, and  three  subalterns  in  the  whole  militia  of  the  province. 

Such  being  the  case,  the  astonishment  of  the  people  was  only 
equaled  by  their  indignation  at  a  wanton  outrage  on  private 
property.  Soon  after  his  arrival  he  caused  Divine  Service  to  be 
celebrated  by  his  chaplain,  in  the  South  Meeting-house.  In  vain 
was  the  building  claimed  by  its  owners.  In  vain  the  sexton  re- 
fused to  ring  the  bell.  No  tenderness  was  exhibited,  similar  to 
that  of  the  commissioners  twenty  years  before.  The  clergyman 
came  forth  attired  in  the  surplice ;  the  very  name  of  which  was 
an  abomination  to  them.  The  foundation  of  an  Episcopal  church 
was  soon  after  laid,  and  those  who  had  been  heretofore  taxed  for 
the  support  of  Puritan  preaching,  and  compelled  to  contribute  to 
their  conventicles,  now  took  a  malicious  pleasure  in  soliciting  their 
old  oppressors  for  subscriptions,  to  build  up  what  they  called  a 
house  for  the  true  worship  of  God. 

*  There  had  been  two,  but  at  the  date  of  Randolph's  letter  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury  (1685),  the  other  had  gone  to  England. 


144  THE  ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

This  toleration,  thus  rendered  doubly  distasteful,  was  not  very 
easily  enforced.  Although  the  people  had  not  the  power,  through 
their  representatives,  to  repeal  the  law  or  prevent  its  execution, 
they  had  the  means  of  insult,  and  the  opposition  and  the  tyranny 
of  a  majority  to  back  them.  Upon  one  of  the  first  occasions, 
under  this  edict,  that  a  clergyman  in  Boston,  proceeded  in  his  vest- 
ments to  the  grave-yard,  to  read  the  burial-service,  a  crowd  of 
persons  led  on  by  an  infuriated  deacon,  drove  him  from  the  grave, 
and  loaded  him  with  insult  and  abuse,  calling  him  "  Baal's  priest," 
and  his  prayers,  "leeks,  garlic,  and  Popish  trash."  Prompt  and 
decisive  measures  on  the  part  of  the  governor  prevented  a  repeti- 
tion of  such  disgraceful  scenes. 

This  liberty  was  not  merely  deplored  by  them  as  a  spiritual 
loss,  but  was  sensibly  felt  in  a  pecuniary  point  of  view.  Although 
they  withheld  all  civil  rights  from  those  who  were  not  Congrega- 
tionalists,  they  did  not  exempt  them  from  taxation  for  the  support 
of  their  own  preachers.  "  Discouragements  upon  the  hearts  of 
the  ministers  increase,"  (writes  a  correspondent  of  Mather's),  "  by 
reason  that  a  licentious  people  take  advantage  of  a  freedom  to 
withhold  maintenance  from  them."  His  deputies  in  distant  parts 
of  his  jurisdiction,  and  their  subordinate  officers  still  enforced  these 
rates  where  they  could  do  so  with  safety,  and  the  practice  was 
not  finally  discontinued,  until  he  threatened  them  if  they  persisted 
in  assessing  Quakers  and  others  for  that  purpose,  he  would,  in  like 
manner,  make  them  contribute  to  the  support  of  the  Episcopal 
Church.  To  his  lieutenant-governor  at  Plymouth  he  expostu- 
lated on  this  subject,  in  a  letter  still  extant,  which  reflects  great 
credit  on  his  judgment  and  firmness,  and  showed  that,  in  some  in- 
stances at  least,  he  was  capable  of  impartiality.* 

That  James  was  disposed  to  carry  things  with  a  high  hand, 
where  obedience  was  either  reluctant  or  withheld,  that  his  com- 
mission for  the  government  of  the  colony  was  illegal,  and  that  his 
representative  was  willing  to  proceed  to  any  length  he  was  desired 

*  "Some  years  before  Andross's  Act  of  Toleration,  one  Briscoe,  a  tanner  of 
Watertown,  published  a  book  against  the  support  of  ministers  by  tithes  or 
taxes,  and  reproached  those  •who  received  their  salary  from  such  a  source.  The 
ministers  thought  a  man  who  denied  the  authority  of  the  civil  magistrate  to 
provide  for  the  support  of  pastors,  fuste  potius  erudiendum  quam  argumento, 
and  therefore  they  left  it  to  the  magistrates  to  defend  the  cause,  who  convened 
the  tanner  before  them,  and  brought  him  to  an  acknowledgment,  if  not  to  a  sense 
of  his  error." — Iliibbard. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  143 

to  go,  was  so  palpable  to  all,  that  it  is  no  wonder  if  the  copious 
vocabulary  of  abuse,  which  Puritanism  had  at  its  ccrcmand,  was 
exhausted  before  they  expressed  all  their  hatred  of  Andross  and 
his  council.  His  general  conduct  was  haughty  and  capricious. 
Many  of  his  acts  were  arbitrary,  and  some  oppressive ;  but  there 
was  one,  to  which  I  shall  presently  allude,  well  calculated  to  excite 
both  their  indignation  and  alarm.  And  yet  it  is  doubtful  whether 
the  loss  of  legislative  power,  illegal  exactions,  or  personal  injuries 
touched  them  so  sensibly  as  toleration.  It  was  mourned  over  in 
private,  and  preached  against  in  public.  One  minister  in  particu- 
lar, has  obtained  an  imperishable  name  for  his  manly  patriotism  in 
selecting  for  his  text  the  following  words  :  "Ye  have  not  yet  resist- 
ed unto  blood,  striving  against  sin."  The  clergy  every  where  justi- 
fied that  compulsory  conformity,  which  in  England  they  resisted 
to  the  death.  "  Be  pleased"  (says  one  of  their  most  eminent 
divines),  "to  consider  this  point  a  little  further.  You  think  to 
compel  a  man,  in  matters  of  worship,  is  to  make  him  sin,  accord- 
ing to  Rom.  xiv.  23.  If  the  worship  be  lawful  in  itself,  the 
magistrate  compelling  him  to  come  to  it,  compelleth  him  not  to 
sin,  but  the  sin  is  in  his  will  that  need  to  be  compelled  to  a 
Christian  duty.  Josiah  compelled  all  Israel  to  serve  the  Lord 
their  God  (2  Chron.  xxxiii.  34).  Yet  his  act  herein  was  not 
blamed,  but  recorded  among  his  virtuous  actions.  The  Lord  keep 
us,"  he  says,  "  from  this  harlot's  cup  of  toleration,  lest  while  we 
seem  to  reject  with  open  face  of  profession,  we  bring  her  in  by  a 
back  door,  and  so  come  to  drink  of  the  cup  of  the  Lord's  wrath 
and  be  filled  with  her  plagues." 

How  inconsistent  is  man,  and  how  easily  does  he  enlist  his 
reason  on  the  side  of  his  wishes  or  his  passions  !  What  rendered 
the  conduct  of  the  governor  still  more  irritating  was,  that  he  not 
only  placed  the  clergymen  of  the  Church  of  England  practically 
on  a  footing  with  the  Puritan  ministers,  but  that  in  his  private 
intercourse  he  treated  them  with  much  greater  respect.  Hutch- 
inson  informs  us  with  infinite  naivete,  that  "  Sir  Edmund  actu- 
ally asserted  that  he  considered  the  preachers  as  mere  laymen ;" 
and  records  this  with  as  great  gravity  as  if  he  had  never  heard 
of  such  an  idea  before,  and  believed  Andross  to  be  the  only  man 
in  the  world  that  entertained  it.  It  was  a  remark  that  was 
treasured  up  in  the  heart  and  embalmed  in  its  bitterness. 

Swearing  on  the  Book,  as  it  is  called,  was  introduced  into  the 

G 


146  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

courts  of  justice,  to  the  horror  and  disgust  of  the  inhabitants. 
But  the  most  flagrant  and  indefensible  act  of  Andross's  short 
administration  was  among  his  last.  By  the  ingenuity  of  a  law- 
yer, he  found  a  prolific  source  of  emolument,  in  a  forced  applica- 
tion of  a  feudal  principle  to  the  titles  of  land.  The  people  were 
informed  that  the  charter  having  been-granted  on  conditions 
which  had  not  been  performed,  all  acts  under  it  were  rendered 
invalid,  and  the  soil  reverted  to  the  Crown ;  and  that  if  a  more 
indulgent  construction  were  adopted,  still  their  grants  were  not 
under  seal,  a  defect  which  no  length  of  time,  and  no  amount  of 
improvement,  could  rectify.  They  were,  however,  very  consid- 
erately informed,  that  upon  due  acknowledgment  of  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  their  conveyances,  and  a  humble  petition,  new  patents 
should  be  executed  for  granting  them  possession  on  such  moder- 
ate terms,  as  his  Excellency  should  approve.  With  respect  to 
their  deeds  from  the  Indian  chiefs,  it  was  observed  that  the  sig- 
nature of  a  savage  was  about  as  valuable  as  "  a  scratch  of  a 
bear's  paw."  In  fact,  he  became  the  vendor  of  every  man's 
estate  at  his  own  price,  for  the  conciliation  fee  was  always  in 
proportion  to  its  value  and  extent. 

To  exhibit  to  the  people  the  necessity,  as  well  as  the  policy  of 
renewing  their  titles,  writs  of  intrusion  were  issued  against  some 
of  the  principal  inhabitants,  which  had  the  effect  of  terrifying 
others  into  obedience.  To  prevent  the  spread  of  sedition,  he  for- 
bade all  town  meetings,  except  for  the  choice  of  officers,  and  pro- 
hibited any  one  from  leaving  the  province  without  a  pass  from 
himself.  In  the  mean  time,  while  his  orders  in  Massachusetts 
were  left  to  be  enforced  by  his  subordinates,  he  proceeded  to  de- 
mand submission  of  the  other  New  England  colonies.  He  first 
visited  Rhode  Island,  which,  upon  a  quo  warranto  issued 
against  her,  declined  to  enter  into  a  contest  with  the  king,  but 
appealed  to  his  kindness.  Having  dissolved  the  government,  and 
broken  its  seal,  he  appointed  five  of  tie  principal  magistrates 
members  of  his  council,  and  issued  commissions  to  all  the  local 
officers.  Shortly  afterward,  he  made  an  excursion  into  Connect- 
icut attended  by  several  of  his  assistants,  and  a  guard  of  honor, 
consisting  of  sixty  men,  and  demanded  its  cnarter.  The  Assem- 
bly, which  was  then  in  session,  reluctant  to  surrender  or  even 
produce  it,  kept  the  subject  in  debate  and  suspense  until  the 
evening,  when  it  was  brought  forward,  and  laid  on  the  table. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  147 

By  a  preconcerted  arrangement,  the  lights  were  suddenly  extin- 
guished, but  without  the  slightest  appearance  of  riot  or  disorder  : 
when  they  were  replaced,  it  was  found  (amid  the  well-feigned 
astonishment  of  all  present)  that  the  patent  was  gone.  Sir  Ed- 
mund now  assumed  the  government,  appointed  his  councilors, 
and  closed  the  records  of  the  colony,  adding  with  his  own  hand 
the  word  "  finis."* 

As  consolidation  appeared  to  be  the  principle  on  which  James 
designed  to  act  in  America,  this  immense  government,  extending 
from  the  Hudson  to  Maine,  was  now  still  further  augmented  by 
the  addition  of  the  provinces  of  New  York  and  New  Jersey  ;  and 
a  commission  was  sent  to  Andross,  appointing  him  Captain-gen- 
eral and  Vice-admiral  over  the  whole  territory.  The  constitu- 
tion established  for  it  was  a  governor  and  council,  having  execu- 
tive and  legislative  authority,  independent  of  the  expression  of 
popular  opinion. 

The  progress  of  events,  however,  in  Europe  was  working  out  a 
deliverance  for  the  oppressed  colonists  of  Massachusetts.  During 
the  spring  of  1688,  there  was  a  rumor  that  the  Prince  of  Orange 
was  preparing  to  make  a  descent  upon  the  coast  of  England,  and 
shortly  afterward  a  Mr.  Winslow  brought  a  copy  of  his  procla- 
mation. He  •was  immediately  apprehended,  for  introducing  "  a 
traitorous  and  treasonable  libel  into  the  country,"  and  bail, 
which  was  tendered  to  the  amount  of  two  thousand  pounds,  was 
refused.  The  old  magistrates,  and  influential  colonists,  silently 
wished,  and  secretly  prayed  for  success  to  the  glorious  undertak- 
ing ;  and  determined  either  quietly  to  await  the  event,  or  pri- 

*  "  Captain  Wads-worth,  of  Hartford,  silently  carried  off  the  charter,  and 
secreted  it  in  a  hollow  tree,  which,  to  this  day,  is  regarded  with  veneration,  as 
the  preserver  of  the  constitution  of  the  colony.  This  'oak  stood  in  front  of  the 
house  of  the  Honorable  Samuel  Wyllys,  then  one  of  the  magistrates  of  the 
province.  It  still  remains  within  the  inclosure  of  the  old  family  mansion,  and 
is  in  little  danger  of  injury,  except  from  time,  while  under  the  auspicious  care 
of  his  descendants.  In  reply  to  an  inquiry  concerning  it,  I  was  informed  '  that 
venerable  tree,  which  concealed  the  charter  of  our  rights,  stands  at  the  foot  of 
Wyllys  Hill.  The  first  inhabitant  of  that  name  found  it  standing  in  the  height 
of  its  glory.  Age  seems  to  have  curtailed  its  branches,  yet  it  is  not  exceeded 
in  the  depth  of  its  coloring,  or  richness  of  its  foliage.  The  trunk  measures 
twenty-one  feet  in  circumference,  and  near  seven  in  diameter.  The  cavity 
which  was  the  asylum  of  our  charter,  was  near  the  roots,  and  large  enough  to 
admit  a  child.  Within  the  space  of  eight  years  that  hollow  has  closed,  as  if  it 
had  fulfilled  the  Divine  purpose  for  which  it  had  been  reared.'" — Holmes'  An- 
nals, vol.  i.  p.  470,  in  note. 


148  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

vately  to  urge  on  the  inhabitants  to  rebellion.  The  body  of  the 
people,  who  are  easily  excited,  goaded  to  madness  by  the  innova- 
tions with  which  they  were  acquainted,  and  the  rumors  of  still 
greater  changes  that  were  in  contemplation  by  the  governor, 
whom  they  accused  of  being  a  Papist,  were  impatient  of  delay, 
and  resolved  to  get  up  a  little  revolution  of  their  own.  Whether 
Andross  was  a  Romanist,  or  a  Churchman,  can  not  now  be  well 
ascertained,  the  best  historians  of  that  period  differing  in  opinion 
on  the  subject ;  and  the  fact  was  a  matter  of  little  consequence, 
for  in  their  eyes  there  was  little  difference  between  the  two  ;  and 
it  was  currently  reported  that  he  had  asserted  he  considered,  as 
an  Episcopalian,  the  practice  of  laymen  ordaining  clergymen, 
and  setting  them  apart  to  administer  the  sacraments,  without 
any  warrant  from  Scripture,  as  a  most  gross  piece  of  presump- 
tion. Whether  the  Puritans,  many  of  whose  ancestors  came 
from  Holland,  to  which  they  had  fled  for  refuge,  thought  that 
the  congeniality  of  Dutch  Protestantism  with  the  tenets  of  the 
non-conformists  of  England,  would,  by  its  popularity,  prove  too 
strong  for  the  idolatrous  king,  or  whether  they  believed,  as  they 
maintained,  that  they  were  the  chosen  people  of  the  Lord,  they 
arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  they  had  a  despot  in  the  land  ;  and 
that  the  only  law  they  recognized,  that  of  the  Bible,  required 
that  he  should  be  dealt  with.  To  raise  the  popular  fury  to  its 
greatest  height,  the  people  were  told  that  it  was  the  intention  of 
the  governor,  in  obedience  to  orders  he  had  received,  to  take  a 
favorable  opportunity  of  falling  upon  the  inhabitants  of  Boston 
with  his  garrison,  and  putting  them  all  to  death  indiscriminately, 
in  the  same  manner  that  the  Huguenots  had  been  exterminated 
in  France.  To  aid  this  fearful  act  of  slaughter,  it  was  said  that 
he  had  armed  the  savages,  and  kept  them  in  pay  to  devastate 
the  frontiers,  and  murder  the  settlers  ;  and  that  it  was  arranged 
that  the  French  were  to  invade  the  country  at  the  same  timt 
and,  as  soon  as  it  was  depopulated,  take  possession  of  it,  having 
secretly  purchased  it  from  the  King  of  England. 

Some  of  their  grievances  they  knew  to  be  real,  for  they  had  felt 
their  effects  :  and  believing  both  James  and  his  representative  to 
be  capable  of  any  act  of  despotism,  no  falsehood  was  too  gross  for 
their  credulity.  Without  stopping  to  inquire  into  the  probability, 
or  even  the  possibility  of  a  rumor  being  true,  it  was  a  sufficient 
guarantee  for  its  accuracy  if  it  were  marvelous  and  atrocious, 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  149 

The  absurd  story  of  two  companies  of  soldiers  putting  a  numerous, 
hardy,  and  brave  population  like  that  of  Boston  to  the  sword, 
answered  the  purpose,  as  well  as  any  other  invention,  and  the 
rage  of  the  multitude  knew  no  bounds.  They  rose  en  masse. 
Who  originated  this  movement,  and  organized  the  people,  is  not 
now  known,  though  Bancroft  claims'  the  merit  of  it,  and  probably 
with  sufficient  reason,  for  the  ministers ;  but  that  it  was  not,  as 
they  represented  it  to  be,  an  irresistible  burst  of  popular  feeling  is 
manifest  from  the  cautious  mode  of  their  procedure.  Men  who 
were  more  in  the  habit  of  quoting  Scripture  than  acting  under  its 
benign  influence,  were  at  no  loss  to  find  passages  to  justify  to  their 
passions  that  which  reason  could  not  approve.  Every  text  that 
sanctioned  rebellion  was  familiar  to  the  saints,  while  those  that 
enforced  obedience  to  authority  were  satisfactorily  explained  to 
refer  to  the  support  of  a  true  Church  like  that  of  the  Congrega- 
tionalists,  and  a  perfect  civil  constitution  like  that  of  their  beloved 
and  lamented  republic.  They  were  therefore  informed,  and  be- 
lieved it  was  the  bidding  of  the  Lord  :  "  Smite  Ammon,  then 
kill  him,"  said  the  canting  demagogues  ;  "  fear  not,  have  I  not 
commanded  you?  be  courageous,  and  be  valiant/'  They  were 
equally  happy  in  their  allusion  to  his  fort.  "  Thy  pride  hath  de- 
ceived thee,  oh  thou  that  dwellest  in  the  cleft  of  the  rock,  that 
boldest  the  heights  of  the  hill :  though  thou  shouldst  make  thy 
nest  as  high  as  the  eagle,  I  will  bring  thee  down  from  thence, 
saith  the  Lord." 

Their  first  step,  as  a  strategic  measure,  was  to  avail  them- 
selves of  a  favorable  opportunity,  afforded  by  a  visit  for  recreation 
or  business,  to  secure  the  captain,  several  of  the  officers,  and  the 
boat's  crew  of  the  "  Rose"  frigate,  then  riding  at  anchor  in  the 
harbor.  The  second  was  a  sudden  and  simultaneous  rush  of  the 
whole  population  to  the  fort,  where  the  governor  and  his  party 
were  surprised,  and  made  prisoners. 

In  the  mean  time,  the  guns  in  the  battery  were  brought  to  bear 
on  the  frigate,  and  others  were  taken  on  board  of  such  vessels  as 
were  within  range,  so  that  at  a  preconcerted  signal  she  could  be 
disabled,  or  sunk  by  one  general  discharge  of  them  all.  The 
lieutenant,  who  appears  to  have  been  a  man  of  courage  and  con- 
duct, at  last  surrendered,  on  condition  of  retaining  possession  of 
his  ship,  but  unbending  his  sails,  and  sending  them  ashore.  The 
magistrates  then  made  their  appearance,  and  with  their  usual 


lytf  THE    ENGMSH    IN    AMERICA. 

caution  interfered,  with  the  benevolent  intention,  as  they  said,  of 
saving  the  governor  from  popular  fury,  the  existence  and  intensity 
of  which,  from  their  retired  habits,  was  until  then  wholly  un- 
known to,  and  deeply  regretted  by  them.  So  general,  however, 
was  the  excitement,  and  so  universal  the  defection,  that  a  large 
portion  of  the  crowd  consisted  of  boys ;  and  at  the  head  of  the 
magistrates,  was  a  retired  governor  of  eighty-seven  years  of  age. 
Even  women  participated  in  the  universal  enthusiasm,  and  joined 
the  elders  in  exhorting  the  thoughtless  multitude  to  remember 
that  "  Samuel  hewed  Agag  in  pieces  before  the  Lord  in  Gilgal." 
They  then  aided  in  raising  the  favorite  war-cry  of  Cromwell. 
"  To  your  tents,  O,  Israel." 

It  was  a  hopeless  thing  for  a  few  men  to  contend  with  the 
whole  population  of  the  country,  for  the  alarm-bells  had  now 
brought  in  the  inhabitants  of  the  neighboring  townships,  and  the 
governor,  and  his  friends,  surrendered.  As  soon  as  he  was  in 
custody,  the  magistrates  assembled  to  offer  him  their  protection, 
which  they  ventured  to  suggest  would  be  infinitely  more  effica- 
cious, if  he  would  surrender  the  government  into  their  hands. 
They  accordingly  addressed  to  him  the  following  extraordinary 
letter,  exculpating  themselves  from  all  participation  in  the  re- 
bellion, assuring  him  and  his  friends  of  their  personal  safety,  and 
extorting  an  unconditional  abdication  under  pain  of  popular  veil 
geance  : 

"At  the  Town-house  in  Boston,  April  18th,  1689. 

"  SIE. — Ourselves  and  others,  the  inhabitants  of  this  town,  and 
places  adjacent,  being  surprised  with  the  people's  sudden  taking 
arms,  in  the  first  motion  whereof  we  were  wholly  ignorant,  being 
driven  to  it  by  the  present  accident,  are  necessitated  to  acquaint 
your  Excellency,  that  for  the  quieting  and  securing  the  people 
inhabiting  this  country  from  their  imminent  danger,  that  they  in 
many  ways  lie  open  and  exposed  to,  and  tendering  your  own 
safety,  we  judge  it  necessary  that  you  forthwith  deliver  up  the 
government  and  fortifications,  to  be  preserved  and  disposed  accord- 
ing to  order  and  direction  of  the  Crown  of  England,  which  sud- 
denly is  expected  to  arrive,  promising  all  security  from  violence  to 
yourself,  or  any  of  your  gentlemen  or  soldiers  in  person,  or  estate; 
otherwise  they  will,  we  are  assured,  endeavor  the  taking  of  the 
fortifoation  by  storm,  if  any  opposition  be  made." 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  151 

As  soon  as  the  request  was  granted,  the  justices  fulfilled  their 
part  of  the  compact  with  scrupulous  fidelity ;  and  through  the  aid 
of  iron-bars  effectually  secured  Andross  from  the  intrusion  or 
insults  of  the  people,  by  keeping  him  in  close  custody  at  the  fort. 
A  long  and  elaborate  declaration  was  then  made  from  the  Town 
Hall  to  the  inhabitants,  in  which  the  part  taken  by  themselves 
was  justified  in  a  manner  to  conciliate  the  Prince  of  Orange,  if 
he  should  succeed  ;  or  operate  as  a  defense,  if  the  king  should  un- 
happily maintain  his  authority  in  the  realm.  The  extremity  of 
caution  betrays  a  consciousness  of  guilt.  An  able  state  paper  like 
that  carries  with  it  internal  proof  of  previous  preparation  and 
study,  and  leaves  no  doubt  on  the  mind  that  the  insurrection  was 
meditated  and  planned,  and  its  justification  written  before  the 
popular  outbreak.  It  would  have  been  more  to  their  credit,  if 
they  had  had  the  firmness  to  avow  what  they  had  the  courage  to 
execute;  and  had  pleaded  self-preservation  as  a  justification, 
instead  of  an  asserted  regard  for  the  personal  safety  of  a  governor, 
whose  imprisonment  would  have  been  a  poor  atonement  for  his 
conduct,  and  whose  safety  would  have  been  too  dearly  purchased 
by  a  falsehood. 

Usurpation  is  at  all  times  a  dangerous  thing,  but  when  it  is 
the  act  of  a  whole  people,  it  is  difficult  to  be  dealt  with,  as  there 
is  always  a  certain  degree  of  impunity  in  numbers.  The  magis- 
trates therefore  deemed  it  prudent  to  procure  a  written  approba- 
tion of  their  conduct  from  the  principal  inhabitants,  and  then 
assumed  the  title  of  "  a  council  for  the  safety  of  the  people,  and 
conservation  of  the  peace,"  and  filled  up  the  offices  vacated  by 
the  imprisoned  councilors  and  friends  of  the  governor.  A  con- 
vention of  delegates  was  also  called  from  the  several  townships, 
sixty-six  of  whom  assembled  at  Boston,  and  requested  the  board 
to  continue  in  office  until  a  general  election  should  take  place. 
As  soon  as  a  House  of  Representatives  was  chosen,  the  members 
induced  the  council  to  re-establish  the  old  order  of  things,  until  a 
new  charter  should  be  procured,  or  another  form  of  government 
be  settled  for  them  in  England. 

While  the  attention  of  the  magistrates  was  directed  to  their 
own  safety,  that  of  the  governor  was  not  so  well  attended  to,  and 
he  managed  to  effect  his  escape.  The  regicides  were  men  after 
their  own  heart,  saints  and  personal  friends,  and  they  had 
professed  themselves  unable  to  trace  them  to  their  place  of  con- 


152  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

cealment.  Hatred,  however,  is  a  more  active  principle  than 
duty.  Sir  Edmund  was  a  Churchman  or  something  worse,  the 
servant  of  a  tyrant;  and,  what  was  more  to  be  dreaded,  an 
injured  man.  No  friendly  hand  was  extended  to  aid,  and  no 
hospitable  door  was  opened  to  receive  him.  Every  inn  had  its 
curious  questioner,  and  every  village  its  constable.  The  manners 
of  a  courtier,  and  the  language  and  accent  of  fashionable  life 
betrayed  him.  He  had  neglected,  or  was  unable  to  assume,  the 
demure  look,  nasal  drawl,  and  sleek  locks  of  the  Puritan  ;  and 
when  the  hue  and  cry  was  raised,  he  was  apprehended  on  suspi- 
cion, and  detained  till  identified,  when  he  Avas  escorted  back  to 
prison  by  a  party  whose  numbers  showed  more  respect  for  his 
prowess  than  reliance  on  their  own. 

Admonished  by  this  occurrence,  they  forthwith  dispatched  him, 
together  with  his  predecessor,  Mr.  Dudley,  who  in  the  acceptance 
of  office,  as  has  been  previously  observed,  had  rendered  himself 
the  most  unpopular  man  in  the  place,*  and  several  other  persons, 
to  England  to  take  their  trial. t  The  charges  against  them,  how- 
ever, were  not  reduced  to  form,  nor  duly  signed  by  the  local 
authority,  and  they  were  accordingly  released  soon  after  their 
arrival. 

The  effect  of  the  revolt  was  electrical  among  the  other  colonies. 
At  Plymouth,  as  soon  as  they  heard  of  the  insurrection  in  Boston, 
the  people  secured  the  deputy  of  Andross,  and  imprisoned  him. 
The  old  Pilgrim  Fathers  were  now  all  dead,  but  they  had  trans- 
mitted their  gloomy  religion  and  democratic  spirit  to  their  chil- 
dren. They  reinstated  the  governor,  who  had  been  superseded 
by  Sir  Edmund, -and  renewed  the  constitution  which,  more  than 
seventy  years  before,  had  been  signed  on  board  the  "  May  Flower." 
In  Rhode  Island  they  assembled  on  the  day  of  election  in  great 
numbers,  and  unanimously  replaced  their  old  officers,  and  resumed 

*  Bancroft  calls  him  "a  degenerate  son  of  New  England." 
t  The  inhumanity  with  which  they  were  treated  in  prison,  appears  from  their 
letters  to  their  friends.  The  ex-President  Dudley  thus  writes  :  "  After  twenty 
weeks'  unaccountable  imprisonment,  and  many  barbarous  usages  offered  me 
therein,  the  last  seven  weeks  of  which  are  upon  account  of  your  letters  to  me, 
I  have  now  to  complain  that  on  Monday,  the  whole  day,  I  could  be  allowed  no 
victuals  till  nine  of  the  clock  at  night,  when  the  keeper's  wife  offered  to  kindle 
her  own  fire  to  warm  something  for  me,  and  the  corporal  expressly  commanded 
the  fire  to  be  put  out.  1  may  be  easily  oppressed  to  death.  God  will  bear  them 
that  complain  to  Him."  The  complaints  of  Mr.  Randolph,  the  dreaded  custom 
house-officer,  show  that  his  treatment  was  both  cruel  and  indecent 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  153 

their  former  patent.  New  York  underwent  a  violent  change 
also.  One  of  the  lowest  of  the  people,  a  bankrupt  trader,  of  small 
capacity,  but  great  boldness  (a  class  of  persons  generally  conspic- 
uous in  revolutions),  urged  the  inhabitants  to  depose  the  lieu- 
tenant-governor, and  authorize  him  to  assume  the  administration 
of  affairs  until  the  Prince  of  Orange  should  send  them  one  duly 
commissioned.  Maryland  ejected  its  proprietor,  Lord  Baltimore, 
and  proclaimed  William  and  Mary. 

Thus  did  the  revolution  extend  from  Boston  to  the  Chesapeake, 
and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  frontiers  of  the  French  and  Indians. 
The  dethronement,  however,  and  murder  of  Charles  I.,  the  over- 
throw of  the  Protectorate,  the  Restoration,  the  fall  of  James  1 1.,  and 
the  changes  that  preceded  and  followed  the  arrival  of  William  and 
Mary,  succeeded  each  other  in  such  rapid  succession,  that  men's 
minds  in  all  the  colonies  became  unsettled ;  and  from  the  period 
of  this  spontaneous  domestic  revolution,  a  marked  alteration  was 
perceptible  in  the  tone  of  feeling  throughout  all  British  America. 
People  began  to  talk  and  act  in  a  spirit  of  total  independence  of 
England.  The  power  to  control  was  much  doubted,  and  the  right 
utterly  denied.  Scotch  Covenanters,  English  Independents,  and 
Dissenters  of  every  variety  were  fast  covering  the  land,  and  al- 
though these  fanatics  differed  more  or  less  on  doctrinal  points, 
they  all  agreed  in  politics,  for  they  were  all  republicans. 

Shortly  after  Andross  was  released,  he  was  appointed  governor 
of  Virgina,  as  a  reward  for  exasperating  the  people  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  exciting  them  by  his  illegal  conduct  and  oppressive 
measures  into  open  rebellion,  a  precedent,  the  value  of  which  may 
be  estimated,  from  the  uniformity  with  which  it  has  been  observed 
from  that  early  date  to  the  present  period.  Whatever  changes 
may  have  taken  place  in  other  colonial  usages,  this  has  been 
generally  adhered  to,  and  from  Andross,  who  caused  a  revolution 
in  1688,  the  effects  of  which  are  still  felt  in  North  America,  to 
him  who  recently  assented  to  an  act,  rewarding  those  who  plunged 
their  country  into  a  civil  war,  imperial  honors  but  too  often  await 
the  man  who  signally  fails  of  success  in  his  administration,  pro- 
vided he  obeys  his  orders ;  while  he  who  preserves  prosperity  in. 
the  province  committed  to  his  charge,  is  as  frequently  left  to  enjoy 
in  obscurity  the  approbation  of  his  own  conscience,  unless  military 
rank  or  parliamentary  influence,  are  sufficient  to  supply  the  want 
of  such  a  total  absence  of  genius. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Representatives  meet  at  Boston,  and  induce  the  Governor  and  Magistrates  to 
continue  in  Office — King  and  Queen  proclaimed — A  general  Jail-delivery — 
Orders  received  from  England  for  the  local  Authorities  to  retain  the  Govern- 
ment until  further  Instructions — Anxiety  in  America  as  to  the  Convention  of 
Parliament — Doubts  of  the  Tories  and  Scruples  of  the  Prelates — Conduct  of 
the  Whigs — Macaulay's  Definition  of  the  "Essence  of  Politics" — The  Report 
of  the  Commons,  and  the  Declaration  of  Rights  read  with  great  Interest  by 
Provincials — Political  Influence  of  the  commercial  Party  in  England — Its  Con- 
duct toward  the  Plantations — The  Prerogative  described — Its  Effects  in 
America — Blackstone's  Definition  and  Bacon's  Views  of  it — Local  Assem- 
blies imitate  the  Declaration  of  Rights — Cause  of  the  Loss  of  the  Old  Colonies. 

THE  representatives  of  fifty-four  towns  met  at  Boston,  on  the 
22d  of  May,  and  induced  the  governor  and  magistrates,  chosen  in 
1686,  to  occupy  again  the  position  they  formerly  held  according 
to  the  rules  of  their  patent ;  but  these  gentlemen  qualified  their 
acceptance  with  a  declaration  that  they  did  not  wish  it  to  be 
understood  that  they  intended  to  reassume  the  charter  govern- 
ment. As  soon  as  this  was  agreed  upon,  the  "  Council  of 
Safety"  retired  from  their  provisional  office. 

During  all  this  time  they  had  neglected  to  proclaim  the  king 
and  queen,  being  more  concerned  for  their  own  liberties  than 
those  of  England.  At  last  they  endeavored  to  compensate  in 
parade  and  processions  for  any  deficiency  in  promptness,  and  the 
ceremony  took  place  with  more  than  usual  regard  to  effect.  On 
the  accession  of  Charles  II.,  every  person  was  strictly  forbidden, 
under  penalties  for  disobedience,  to  drink  his  health.  Wine  was 
now  served  out  to  the  soldiers,  and  they  were  encouraged  to 
vociferate,  on  the  joyful  occasion,  their  benedictions  on  loyalty  in 
the  heart  of  the  little  republic.  The  death  of  a  democratic 
usurper  like  Cromwell  was  no  subject  for  rejoicing,  for  they  were 
permitted  to  participate  in  his  oppression.  The  expulsion  of  a 
royal  despot  like  James  deserved  celebration,  for  they  were  the 
victims  of  his  tyranny. 

As  soon  as  a  new  House  assembled,'  the  representatives  de- 
clared that  the  Council  ought  to  assume  its  proper  share  in  the 
legislature,  according  to  the  charter,  and  unless  they  did  so,  they 
should  decline  to  take  any  part  in  public  affairs.  Being  thus 
compelled  to  accede  to  what  they  so  much  desired,  the  restoration 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  155 

•was  fully  effected.  The  change  from  the  unlimited  power  of  Sir 
Edmund  Andross  and  four  councilors,  to  the  old  government, 
which  had  subsisted  for  such  a  length  of  time,  was  most  accept- 
able to  the  Provincials  ;  but  for  want  of  confirmation  from  home, 
it  did  not  acquire  that  weight  and  authority  that  was  expected. 
The  General  Assembly,  however,  feeling  that  it  rested  on  the 
voice  of  the  people,  the  only  source  of  power  it  recognized,  enter- 
tained no  doubts  of  the  legality  of  its  own  acts  ;  and  directing  the 
Supreme  Court  to  proceed  to  the  trial  of  several  criminals  then  in 
jail,  upon  their  conviction  ordered  them  to  be  executed.  They 
justified  their  conduct  by  saying,  that  "  since  the  method  lieth 
wholly  with  the  freeholders,  the  re-establishment  of  patent  privi- 
leges was  correspondent  to  the  late  settlement  of  affairs  in  En- 
gland." Of  the  petty  intrigues  of  their  agent  in  London,  Mr. 
Mather,  relative  to  the  restoration  of  the  old  order  of  things,  I 
shall  not  stop  to  give  the  particulars,  as  it  is  beside  the  object  of 
this  inquiry.  The  General  Court,  however,  prepared  an  address 
to  the  throne,  couched  in  the  usual  language  of  flattery,  but  with 
their  characteristic  caution,  avoided  the  admission  of  imperial 
authority.  In  return,  they  received  directions  to  continue  the 
exercise  of  those  powers  of  government  they  had  usurped,  and  to 
proceed  as  they  had  heretofore  done,  until  time  could  be  afforded 
for  taking  the  whole  subject  into  consideration. 

The  period  that  intervened  between  the  arrival  of  the  Prince 
of  Orange  and  the  settlement  of  the  crown  upon  him,  was  one  of 
intense  interest  and  anxiety  throughout  New  England.  They 
were  aware  that  any  protracted  delay  in  the  proceedings  of  Par- 
liament, or  disagreement  between  the  two  branches,  or  refusal  of 
the  prince  to  accept  the  terms  on  which  it  should  be  offered, 
would  inevitably  throw  the  whole  kingdom  into  confusion  ;  and 
it  was  just  possible  royalty  might  again  cease  to  exist,  and  dissent 
be  triumphant.  As  it  was  anticipated,  serious  difficulties  did 
arise,  which  seemed  at  first  almost  insurmountable,  and  we  are 
indebted  to  the  Liberals  of  that  day  for  a  speedy  solution  of  them. 
The  Tories  questioned  the  possibility  of  an  abdication,  or  of  the 
throne  being  vacant  for'  a  moment,  and  maintained  that  if  the 
king's  conduct  could  be  considered  as  a  demise,  Mary  was  ipso 
facto  queen.  They  felt  the  objection  pressing  upon  them  with 
irresistible  force,  that  if  the  principles  of  their  opponents  were 
once  established,  it  necessarily  followed  that  the  monarchy  was 


156  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

elective.  The  prelates,  besides  these  questions  of  law,  enter- 
tained conscientious  difficulties  with  respect  to  their  oath  of  allegi- 
ance. The  Liberals  were  neither  obstructed  by  the  doubts  of  the 
one  nor  scruples  of  the  other.  The  former  were  above  their  com- 
prehension, the  latter  beneath  their  notice.  Their  idea  of  the 
British  constitution  may  be  summed  up  in  a  few  words,  "  Might 
makes  right,"  a  maxim  that  lies  at  the  root  of  all  monarchical  and 
republican  tyranny.  When  announced  by  a  king  like  James 
these  consistent  politicians  denounced  it  as  despotism  ;  when  pro- 
claimed by  a  government,  founded  on  popular  suffrage,  they  call- 
ed it  "the  voice  of  the  people."  When  might  was  deficient, 
parliamentary  skill  was  recommended.  Macaulay,  who,  from  co- 
operation with  them,  is  familiar  with  their  principles,  says  the 
essence  of  politics  is  compromise. 

Modern  history  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  such  an  avowal  as 
this,  a  maxim  that  substitutes  expediency  for  principle,  and  party 
ascendency  for  integrity.  In  this  case  compromise  was  not  need- 
ed ;  they  had  the  might  and  they  used  it.  They  called  up  the 
"  spirits  of  the  vasty  deep."  They  sounded  the  alarm  in  the  city, 
and  summoned  their  old  allies.  The  conventicles  poured  out  their 
saints,  and  the  pot-houses  their  sinners,  and  a  mixed  and  motley 
crowd  filled  and  surrounded  the  Palace-yard,  alarmed  the  friends 
of  order,  overawed  the  timid,  and  emboldened  their  party  leaders 
to  call  for  a  speedy  decision. 

Such  an  assemblage  had  never  before  been  seen  in  England. 
Larger  and  noisier  masses,  mobs  more  excited  and  bent  on  mis- 
chief, had  been  known,  but  such  an  incongruous  and  heterogene- 
ous body  as  this  was  a  new  element  in  the  annals  of  parliamentary 
legislation.  The  disgusting  mixture  of  obscene  oaths  with  texts 
of  Scripture,  as  they  alternately  proceeded  from  the  thoughtless 
vagabonds  of  the  town,  or  canting  republicans  of  the  old  school, 
soon  convinced,  as  it  was  intended  they  should,  a  majority  of  both 
Houses,  that  there  was  no  time  to  lose.  "  I  am  instructed,"  said 
Lord  Lovelace  to  the  Peers,  "to  present  a  petition  immediately, 
to  proclaim  the  Prince  and  Princess  of  Orange  to  be  king  and 
queen."  When  asked  by  whom  he  was  deputed  to  do  so,  he 
hesitated  a  while,  for  he  had  no  such  memorial,  but  "  the  essence 
of  politics,"  a  slight  "compromise"  of  truth  with  falsehood,  ena- 
bled him  to  answer,  "  There  are  no  hands  to  it  yet,  but  when  I 
bring  it  here  next,  there  shall  be  hands  enough." 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  157 

This  attempt  at  coercion  was  indignantly  resented,  but  the 
party  had  carried  their  point,  and  affected  to  repress  what  natur- 
ally subsided  of  itself  when  not  agitated  from  beneath.  This 
menace  of  Lord  Lovelace,  says  Macaulay,  disgusted  his  own  as- 
sociates. The  promoters  of  the  riots,  he  calls  "  the  fiercer  and 
lower  class  of  Whigs,  the  old  emissaries  of  Shaftesbury,  the  sup- 
porters of  College."  He  says  the  Whigs  were  even  more  de- 
sirous than  the  Tories  that  the  deliberations  of  the  Convention 
should  be  perfectly  free.  A  compromise  means  to  yield  something, 
to  retain  what  is  left,  or  to  procure  an  advantage  in  exchange  for 
one  surrendered.  True  to  their  principles,  they  "compromised." 
They  disavowed  their  agents,  in  which  they  exhibited  more 
judgment  than  gratitude,  for  in  truth  they  were  associates  whose 
support  conferred  no  particular  honor  upon  them ;  and  they 
claimed,  in  return,  the  credit  of  obtaining  by  argument,  that 
'which  they  alone  owed  to  compulsion  and  terror. 

This  revolution  had  a  surprising  effect  in  America,  even  more 
perhaps  than  in  England.  The  report  of  the  Committee  of  the 
House  of  Commons  was  read  throughout  the  colonies  with  the 
deepest  interest.  Although  it  contained  recommendations  as  the 
ground- work  of  future  legislation,  there  not  being  time  to  mature 
and  pass  so  many  important  laws  as  would  be  required  to  give 
them  effect,  yet  viewed  merely  as  declarations  of  opinions  on  sub- 
jects of  vital  interest,  the  Provincials  studied  them  with  the  most 
critical  attention.  Among  other  things,  it  was  suggested  for 
future  deliberation,  that  the  judges  should  hold  their  places  for 
life  ;  that  the  mode  of  selecting  juries  should  be  altered  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  exclude  partiality  or  corruption  ;  that  the  Court  of 
Chancery  should  be  reformed ;  that  the  fees  of  public  functionaries 
should  be  regulated,  and  that  the  law  of  quo  warranto  should 
be  amended. 

The  declaration  of  right  recapitulated  the  offenses  and  illegal 
conduct  of  the  king.  It  stated  that  he  had  invaded  the  province 
of  the  legislature  ;  had  treated  modest  petitioning  as  a  crime ;  had 
oppressed  the  Church  by  means  of  an  illegal  tribunal ;  had,  with- 
out the  consent  of  Parliament,  levied  taxes,  and  maintained  a 
standing  army  in  time  of  peace ;  had  violated  the  freedom  of 
election,  and  perverted  the  course  of  justice.  Proceedings  which 
could  be  questioned  only  in  Parliament  had  been  made  the  sub- 
ject of  prosecution  in  the  King's  Bench  ;  partial  and  corrupt  juries 


158  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

had  been  returned ;  excessive  bail  had  been  required  from  pris- 
oners, and  disproportioned  fines  imposed  ;  barbarous  and  unusual 
punishments  had  been  inflicted,  and  the  estates  of  accused  persons 
had  been  granted  away  before  conviction.  Finally,  it  assumed 
that  he  had  abdicated  the  government.  It  went  on  to  declare 
that  the  dispensing  power,  lately  assumed  and  exercised,  had  no 
legal  existence  ;  and  without  grant  of  Parliament,  no  money  could 
be  exacted  by  the  sovereign  from  the  subject,  and  that  without 
the  consent  of  the  legislature,  no  standing  army  could  be  kept  up 
in  time  of  peace.  The  right  of  subjects  to  petition — of  electors 
to  choose  representatives  freely — of  Parliament  to  freedom  of 
dehate — of  the  nation  to  a  pure  and  merciful  administration  of 
justice,  according  to  the  spirit  of  its  own  mild  laws,  was  solemnly 
affirmed.  All  these  things  the  Convention  claimed,  in  the  name 
of  the  whole  nation,  as  its  undoubted  inheritance. 

This  declaration  did  not  so  much  make  new  laws  as  clear  the 
old  from  obscurity.  It  rendered  that  certain  which  illegal  prac- 
tice had  involved  in  doubt.  The  fundamental  principle  asserted 
for  the  last  time,  and  now  for  ever  established  by  the  Revolution, 
viz.,  that  no  taxes  could  be  levied  on  the  people  but  by  their  own 
consent  or  that  of  their  representatives,  while  it  secured  the  liber- 
ties of  Englishmen,  paralyzed  the  hold  of  tyranny  in  the  pro- 
vinces. Truth  is  eternal  and  immutable.  That  which  is  founded 
on  reason,  and  the  rights  of  freemen  in  Britain,  can  not  be  other- 
wise in  America.  The  doctrine  that  representation  was  neces- 
sary to  legalize  taxation  had  always  been  held  in  Massachusetts, 
and  in  almost  every  other  colony,  from  their  earliest  settlement. 
Their  first  resolve  and  their  last  declaration  were  assertions  of 
this  natural  right,  which,  though  not  so  boldly  maintained,  so  far 
as  the  regulations  of  the  commerce  of  the  empire  extended  (al- 
though this  was  protested  against),  was  claimed  in  the  fullest  and 
most  unlimited  manner  in  their  internal  affairs. 

There  was  a  latent  element,  however,  in  this  revolution,  doom- 
ed to  exercise  in  after  times  a  powerful  and  baneful  influence  in 
America.  The  commercial  interest  of  the  kingdom,  by  its  enor- 
mous, and  increasing  wealth,  emerged  from  the  humble  condition 
it  had  hitherto  occupied,  and  soon  made  itself  felt  and  considered, 
if  not  respected.  An  incipient  national  debt,  occasioned  by  an 
expenditure  that  exceeded  income,  required  loans,  and  the  coffers 
of  the  tradesmen  were  offered  to  the  needy  government,  until  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  159 

creditor  was  enabled  to  make  his  debtor  sensible  of  his  depend- 
ence. The  sea-ports  and  the  manufacturing  towns  rapidly  en 
croached  on  the  influence  of  the  landed  aristocracy,  and  boldly 
demanded  a  portion  of  power.  This  new  class  of  aspirants  for 
political  influence,  with  the  usual  selfishness  of  trade,  nurtured  a 
jealousy  of  colonial  commerce,  and  subsequently  manifested  a  zeal 
in  restricting  it  in  a  manner  most  beneficial  to  itself.  It  affected 
to  see  nothing  in  the  transatlantic  possessions  but  a  market  for 
English  goods.  Restriction  and  monopoly  soon  engendered  a  de- 
sire for  taxation,  and  that,  contrary  to  their  narrow-minded  calcu- 
lations, not  only  failed  in  producing  a  revenue,  but,  by  its  ruinous 
expenses,  nearly  caused  a  national  bankruptcy.  True  to  their 
cold  and  selfish  maxims,  they  regarded  their  balance-sheet  as 
their  only  sure  guide,  which,  however  accurate  it  may  be  in  a 
counting-house,  is  worse  than  useless  to  a  statesman,  who  knows 
that  it  can  never  represent  any  thing  more  than  the  account  of 
one  branch  of  a  vast,  complicated,  and  dependent  system,  of 
which  figures  can  convey  no  adequate  idea  whatever. 

In  their  policy  toward  the  old  provinces,  the  commercial  class- 
es imagined  they  saw  prodigious  gain  in  perspective,  and  flattered 
themselves  that  compression  alone  was  necessary  to  cause  a  con- 
stant stream  of  wealth  to  flow  into  England.  In  grasping  at  the 
shadow  they  lost  the  substance.  The  same  sort  of  "  ready-made" 
politicians  now  despondingly  announce  that  they  have  discovered 
in  their  tabular  accounts,  that  the  cost  of  protection  exceeds  the 
value  of  the  return,  and  propose  to  abandon  colonies  altogether. 

These  results  of  the  great  Revolution  of  1688,  were  not  only 
not  dreaded,  but  not  even  suspected  at  the  time  on  either  side  of 
the  water.  The  Provincials,  engrossed  by  its  more  immediate 
operation,  saw  their  own  emancipation  from  uncertain  authority, 
and  nothing  more.  The  limitation  of  the  prerogative  was  held 
by  them  as  equally  applicable  to  the  regal  power  in  America. 
Its  exercise  had  been  made  even  more  perplexing  and  oppressive 
toward  them  than  toward  the  English.  -Theory  and  practice  had 
hitherto  been  so  much  at  variance,  that  they  scarcely  knew  where 
it  would  reach,  or  what  it  would  subvert.  What  opinions  emi- 
nent lawyers  held  on  the  subject  was  of  little  consequence  to 
them,  the  practice  had  ever  continued  the  same,  and  although 
Parliament,  to  make  these  new  restrictions  less  obnoxious  to  roy- 
alty, asserted  that  they  only  declared  what  the  law  always  had 


160  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

been,  it  was  manifest  that  if  it  had  been  so  plain  it  did  not  re- 
quire repetition,  and  that  Westminster  Hall  was  not  so  unani- 
mous as  had  been  represented.  The  very  word  "  prerogative" 
was  one  of  terror,  for  it  was  synonymous  with  a  despotic  power 
above  the  law,  making  or  dispensing  with  laws  at  pleasure. 
Whichever  way  a  colonist  turned,  he  was  met  by  it.  It  was  in- 
visible and  intangible,  but  nevertheless  it  was  omnipotent.  It 
claimed  the  whole  country,  the  right  of  taxation,  of  government, 
of  regulating  commerce,  controlling  the  militia,  of  pressing  sailors, 
and  billeting  troops,  of  making  war  and  peace,  of  constituting 
courts,  and  administering  justice  in  matters  civil,  military,  or  eccle- 
siastical, of  monopolies,  of  coinage,  and  in  fact,  in  and  over  all 
things.  It  had  a  jargon  of  its  own,  not  very  intelligible  to  the 
hardy  but  unlettered  fishermen  of  the  sea-coast,  or  the  inhabit- 
ants of  wigwams  made  of  the  bark  of  trees.  When  they  heard 
of  floatsam.  jetsam  and  ligan,  treasure-trove,  deodands,  and  waifs, 
bona  vacantia,  ne-exeats  and  non-obstantes,  and  asked  what  these 
mysterious  and  unpronouncable  words  meant,  they  were  told  they 
were  prerogative  rights  ;  and  when  they  demanded  what  prerog- 
ative was,  the  best  informed  man  could  only  reply  in  general 
terms,  that  "it  is  that  special  pre-eminence  which  the  king  hath 
over  and  above  all  other  persons,  and  out  of  the  ordinary  course  of 
the  common  law,  in  right  of  his  royal  dignity.  It  signifies  in  its  ety- 
mology (from  prse  and  rogo)  something  that  is  required  or  demand- 
ed, before,  or  in  preference  to  all  others.  And  hence  it  follows, 
that  it  must  be  in  its  nature  singular  and  eccentrical,  that  it  can 
only  be  applied  to  those  rights  and  capacities,  which  the  king  en- 
joys alone,  in  contradiction  to  others,  and  not  to  those  which  he 
enjoys  in  common  with  any  of  his  subjects  ;  for  if  once  any  one 
prerogative  of  the  Crown  could  be  held  in  common  with  the  sub- 
ject, it  would  cease  to  be  prerogative  any  longer.  And  therefore 
Finch  lays  it  down  as  a  maxim,  that  the  prerogative  is  that  law 
in  the  case  of  the  king  which  is  law  in  no  case  in  the  subject." 

This  was  the  best  description  Blackstone  could  give  of  it  at 
a  later  period.  To  a  professional  man,  already  practically  ac- 
quainted with  its  operation,  it  may  suffice,  though  not  very  per- 
spicuous or  precise,  but  ordinary  men  will  rise  from  its  perusal, 
iiot  much  enlightened  by  the  definition  of  the  learned  judge. 
Lord  Bacon,  when  colonization  was  first  seriously  thought  of, 
instructed  James  I.  in  a  very  explicit  manner  on  this  subject. 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  161 

He  maintained  :  1st.  That  the  king  may  constrain  the  person  of 
his  subjects  not  to  go  out  of  the  realm.  2d.  That  he  may  for- 
bid the  exportation  of  commodities.*  3d.  He  may  forbid  the 
importation  of  any  commodities  into  this  realm.  4th.  He  may 
set  a  reasonable  impost  upon  any  foreign  wares  that  come  into 
the  same ;  and*so  on  native  wares  that  go  out  of  the  realm. 

The  law  being  thus  understood  by  Crown  lawyers,  the  colonial 
charters  of  that  reign  were  drawn  in  conformity  with  their  opin- 
ions. We  now  perceive  the  reason  why  there  were  inserted  in 
every  patent,  "  a  license  to  emigrate,  a  permission  to  export  mer- 
chandise, and  exemption  from  impost  during  a  limited  term ;" 
and  also  similar  provisions  which  were  framed  according  to  the 
prevailing  notions  of  the  times.  "It  is  curious,"  says  Chalmers, 
"  to  remark  that  it  should  seem,  not  only  from  the  passage  above 
cited,  but  from  the  argument  of  Bacon  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons, in  support  of  the  same  doctrine,  that  there  once  existed  in 
the  law  of  England  a  principle,  perhaps  a  practice,  analogous  to 
the  internal  and  external  taxation  of  the  colonial  controversy, 
since  he  contended  that  the  king  might  establish  an  impost  on 
exports  and  imports,  though  he  admitted  that  the  prerogative 
could  not  impose  a  domestic  tax  on  lands  or  on  polls."  Thus, 
though  the  petition  of  right  had  determined,  with  regard  to  En- 
gland, the  law,  against  the  opinion  of  Bacon,  before  recited, 
Charles  I.  continued  to  lay  imposts  on  her  dependent  territories. 
The  precedent  for  this  had  been  established  in  Ireland.  After 
its  subjugation  by  Henry  II.,  it  was  treated  as  a  colony.  The 
change  made  in  its  laws  was  not  effected  by  any  English  Parlia- 
ment, but  by  the  charters  of  its  conqueror,  and  other  subsequent 
sovereigns,  who  considered  it  a  dependent  conquered  dominion, 
and,  as  such,  possessed  a  legislative  power  over  it.* 

We  have  already  observed  that  the  repeated  changes  in  the 
government  of  England  had  a  very  deleterious  effect  on  the 
plantations.  The  popular  cause  in  the  colonies  was  always  in 
advance  of  the  parent  country ;  and  as  soon  as  the  Parliament 
obtained  any  new  security  for  liberty,  it  was  seized  upon  by  the 
local  legislature  as  their  joint  property,  and  their  outposts  were 
pushed  on  further  into  the  royal  territory.  As  soon  as  the  report 

*  See  Chalmers's  Introd.  to  Hist.,  p.  3,  notes. 

t  Black.  Com.  vol.  I.  p.  99.  Cowper's  Reports,  p.  210,  Prym.  Inst.  vol.  IT. 
p.  294. 


162  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

of  the  Committee  of  the  Commons,  containing  recommendations, 
reformatory  laws,  and  the  declaration  of  rights,  arrived  in  Amer- 
ica, the  Assemblies  every  where  passed  fundamental  laws,  assert- 
ing their  privileges,  and  what  they  conceived  to  be  their  liber- 
ties ;  and  although  these  were  very  properly  rejected  in  England, 
on  the  ground  that  it  was  absurd  for  such  dependent  colonies  to 
designate  the  terms  on  which  they  would  alone  admit  their  sub- 
jection, still  they  afforded  a  convincing  proof  of  the  growth  of 
democratic  principles,  and  by  the  discussion  to  which  they  led, 
added  life  and  strength  to  disaffection,  which  was  now  propa- 
gated with  the  utmost  zeal  by  fanatics  and  demagogues.  This 
encroaching  disposition  originated  in  an  early  and  long-continued 
neglect  of  the  colonies  by  England.  When  their  importance 
began  to  demand  attention,  it  was  strengthened  by  an  equally 
flagrant  mismanagement ;  and  when  they  became  populous  and 
obedient,  it  ripened  into  rebellion  by  an  unjust  and  illegal  claim 
of  taxation,  in  the  support  of  which  the  reasoning  of  English 
statesmen  afforded  topics  of  ridicule  in  the  town  meetings,  and 
the  conduct  of  the  troops  an  easy  triumph  to  the  undisciplined 
levies  of  the  agricultural  districts. 

It  would  be  unavailing  now  to  blame  those  who  severed  the 
connection,  although,  if  there  had  been  real  affection  on  their 
part,  the  separation  would  not  have  been  final.  How  much  or 
how  little  censure  they  deserve,  is  not  at  the  present  time  the 
question.  What  we  owe  to  ourselves  is  a  rigid  self-examination. 
We  should  not  shrink  from  laying  bare  our  own  faults,  that  we 
may  avoid  similar  errors  in  future.  If  we  yielded  independence 
by  not  retaining  sufficient  control  over  the  form  of  their  constitu- 
tions, let  us  be  more  careful  of  concession.  If  we  interfered  with 
their  just  rights,  let  us  respect  those  of  the  remaining  colonists. 
If  we  tried  responsible  government,  as  we  shall  presently  see  we 
did,  denuded  the  governor  of  his  power,  and  invited  resistance  by 
our  own  weakness,  let  the  salutary  lesson  not  be  lost  upon  us. 
In  short,  having  once  made  shipwreck,  let  us  survey  the  coast, 
and  take  the  bearings  of  the  rocks  and  shoals,  and  shape  our 
course  accordingly. 

It  must  be  admitted,  that  it  is  difficult  for  loyal  colonists  to 
look  back  upon  the  annals  of  those  revolted  provinces,  without  the 
deepest  regret,  and  the  most  humiliating  mortification.  That  the 
task  of  reviewing  a  series  of  absurd,  negligent,  and  illegal  acts  of 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AM  ERIC  A.  163 

needy  governors  and  ignorant  boards  of  control,  all  terminating 
in  discreditable  miscarriages  and  defeats,  is  too  painful  even  to  be 
attempted  by  English  statesmen,  is  manifest  from  the  fact  that  it 
has  given  rreither  prudence  to  their  measures,  wisdom  to  their 
•  councils,  nor  vigor  to  their  conduct.  When  the  independence 
of  the  old  colonies  was  acknowledged,  an  immense  number  of 
dispatches  from  several  governors  were  found  in  the  public  ar- 
chives unopened.  The  pen  had  been  laid  aside  in  despair  for  the 
sword,  arid  both  were  disgraced  by  imbecility.  It  is  to  be  feared 
that  the  provincial  history,  every  page  of  which  is  filled  with 
valuable  instruction,  has  shared  the  same  fate  as  the  official  cor- 
respondence, and  remained  unread.  A  natural  or  accidental  de- 
fect of  vision  is  an  infirmity  well  entitled  to  commiseration,  but  a 
statesman  who  disdains  the  labor  of  research,  and  remains  will- 
fully blind,  is  a  criminal  on  whom  expulsion  or  censure  impose  no 
adequate  punishment. 

Unhappily  merit  is  not  always  the  passport  to  office.  Party 
convenience  or  family  interest,  parliamentary  influence  or  success- 
ful intrigue,  too  often  elevate  men  to  important  stations,  who,  from 
vanity,  ignorance,  or  want  of  principle,  are  utterly  unable  to  dis- 
charge their  duties.  Sad  indeed  is  the  condition  of  a  people  when 
such  is  the  temper  of  those  who  govern  them.  This,  however, 
is  an  evil  that  no  revolution  can  ever  cure  ;  and  it  would  seem  to 
be  a  law  of  our  nature,  that  we  must  depend  on  the  lottery  of  life 
for  'the  selection  of  our  rulers.  It  has  indeed  become  a  parlia- 
mentary maxim,'  that  Provincials  must  be  content  to  have  their 
work  "  coarsely  and  roughly  done  ;"  inasmuch  as  a  colonial  min- 
ister, who  has  never  crossed  the  Atlantic,  can  not,  in  the  nature 
of  things,  be  supposed  to  know  much  about  the  young  and  vigor- 
ous empire  committed  to  his  charge.  It  is  difficult  to  pronounce 
our  opinion  on  the  state  of  an  invalid  without  visiting  him.  But 
when  not  only  the  disease,  but  its  seat  and  its  symptoms  are  dif- 
ferently represented,  he  who  ventures  to  prescribe  is  generally 
found  to  be  bold  in  proportion  to  his  ignorance. 

Empirics  invariably  proclain  that  they  have  discovered  a  medi- 
cine applicable  to  all  ages  and  persons,  and  all  cases  and  diseases. 
Political  jugglers,  who,  in  integrity  and  knowledge  are  not  inferior 
to  their  medical  brethren,  possess  similar  powers  of  invention  and 
deception  and  have  ever  on  hand  some  nostrum  of  universal  ap- 
plication. Of  these,  the  last  and  most  valuable  specific  for  con- 


164  THE  ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

etitutional  infirmities,  bears  the  captivating  title  of  "  Responsible 
Government."  When  the  world  is  overrun  with  credulity,  ought 
we  not  to  cease  to  wonder  at  the  number  of  knaves  who  gather 
the  harvest  ?  The  sanatory  state,  however,  of  the  colonial  empire, 
fortunately  for  those  intrusted  with  its  care,  furnishes  abundant 
material  for  exculpation.  The  people  will  not  follow  the  regimen 
ordered  for  them,  or  previous  practitioners  have  mistaken  thcii 
complaints.  Their  constitutions  are  naturally  feeble,  or  it  is  an 
epidemic  under  which  they  suffer,  that  will  soon  pass  away,  01 
there  is  a  complication  of  disorders — they  are  too  much  reduced 
for  active  measures — or  their  nervous  temperament  is  difficult  to 
manage.  But  who  can  doubt  that  their  treatment  has  been  both 
judicious  and  successful,  when  we  have  been  so  fortunate  as  not  to 
have  lost  one  of  our  numerous  dependencies  since  the  great  pesti- 
lence of  1783,  in  which  no  less  than  thirteen  fell  victims  to  the 
ignorance  and  neglect  of  our  ancestors.  Warned  by  their  failure, 
we  have  wisely  avoided  the  route  they  traveled.  Let  us  bo 
careful  that  the  road  we  have  chosen  does  not  lead  to  the  same 
termination. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Effect  of  Toleration  on  the  Ministers — Cotton  Mather's  Attempt  to  raise  a  Revi- 
val of  Bigotry,  by  spreading  Alarm  about  Witches — His  Books  and  Sermons 
—Preface  by  Richard  Baxter — Exorcises  a  Child  at  Boston — Salem  Delusion 
— Special  Court — Its  Proceedings— Executions — Case  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Bur- 
roughs— Sudden  Change  of  Public  Opinion — Mather  falls  into  Contempt — De- 
cline of  Congregationalism — Arrival  of  Sir  William  Phipps  with  the  New  Char- 
ter.  ^ 

THE  summary  manner  in  which  the  State  prisoners  were  re- 
leased on  their  arrival  in  England,  and  the  favorable  reception 
Sir  Edmund  Andross  met  with  from  the  court,  together  with  the 
continued  delay  their  agents  experienced  in  obtaining  a  renewal 
of  the  old,  or  the  issue  of  a  new  charter,  filled  the  people  with  the 
greatest  anxiety  and  alarm.  Having  no  representation  in  Parlia- 
ment, and  neither  court  nor  party  influence  in  England,  beyond 
the  sympathy  of  the  sectaries,  they  had  every  thing  to  fear  from 
royalty,  to  which  they  had  always  manifested  a  determined  oppo- 
sition, and  nothing  to  hope  from  Episcopalians,  whom  they  had 
ever  oppressed  and  persecuted,  while  the  service  they  claimed  to 
have  rendered  to  the  public  by  enlarging  the  bounds  of  the  empire, 
merited  and  received  the  answer,  that  their  settlement  was  under- 
taken for  their  own  advantage,  and  not  the  benefit  of  the  State ; 
and  if  their  endeavors  had  been  successful,  they  had  themselves 
reaped  the  reward  of  their  enterprise. 

This  state  of  uncertainty  as  to  the  form  of  their  future  govern- 
ment, weakened  the  hands  of  their  local  authorities,  while  tolera- 
tion equally  diminished  the  influence  of  the  ministers.  It  is  not 
easy  for  any  person,  not  thoroughly  versed  in  the  history  of  these 
people,  to  comprehend  the  vast  extent  of  power  wielded  by  the 
clergy  during  the  existence  of  the  first  charter.  They  were  not 
only  councilors  by  an  unwritten  law,  but  also  the  authors  of 
State  papers,  often  employed  on  embassies  abroa'd,  and  at  home 
speakers  at  elections  and  in  town  meetings,  "  New  England," 
says  Cotton  Mather,  "being  a  country  where  interests  are  re- 
markably enwrapped  in  ecclesiastical  circumstances,  ministers 
ought  to  concern  themselves  in  politics."  They  were  invested 
\vith  civil  and  spiritual  authority  ;  there  was  no  escape  from  their 


166  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

grasp,  and  never  could  have  been,  had  it  not  been  for  the  tolera- 
tion granted,  or  rather  forced  upon  the  people,  by  the  Church  of 
England.  Religious  liberty  struck  at  the  very  foundation  of 
their  power,  for  emancipation  of  the  mind  and  freedom  of  action 
are  inseparable.  We  have  seen  that  the  Puritans,  in  flying  to 
the  wilderness  to  obtain  exemption  from  ecclesiastical  control, 
with  singular  inconsistency,  claimed  that  privilege  exclusively 
for  themselves,  making  Church  membership  the  qualification  for 
the  right  of  citizenship.  To  uphold  this  spiritual  domination,  the 
aid  of  the  civil  power  was  called,  in  return  for  which  assistance 
the  clergy  lent  their  powerful  support  to  the  government.  By 
their  united  efforts,  all  dissent  was  banished  or  extirpated  from 
the  colony,  and  at  the  time  that  they  were  inveighing  against 
the  persecution  of  the  Episcopalians,  they  themselves  made  liberal 
use  of  mutilation,  whipping,  banishment,  and  even  the  gallows, 
to  preserve  conformity. 

The  moment  religion  was  left  unfettered,  there  was  an  immedi- 
ate reaction  in  public  feeling.  Unrestrained  liberty  as  usual  pro- 
duced licentiousness.  The  people  had  been  governed  by  their 
fears,  no  less  than  by  their  affections,  and  the  clergy  lost  their 
authority.  New  sects  sprang  up,  with  a  zeal  and  vigor  that 
ever  attends  novelty  ;  and,  as  usual  when  many  kinds  of  dissent 
are  found  in  the  same  field,  they  produced  hybrid  varieties  of  the 
same  species  in  abundance,  until  the  ground  was  overrun  with 
their  exuberance,  and  every  wholesome  and  sound  plant  was 
smothered  by  their  rapid  growth  and  coarse  foliage. 

JThe  ministry  felt  it  to  be  their  duty,  as  they  knew  it  was  then 
interest,  to  recall  men's  minds  from  these  numerous  errors.  The 
difficulty  of  the  attempt  lay  in  the  selection  of  the  means.  After 
cool  reason,  and  exciting  declamation  had  been  severally  tried  and 
failed,  recourse  was  had  to  superstition.  The  Puritans  had  ever 
esteemed  themselves  a  chosen  people,  and  were  fond  of  comparing 
New  England  with  Canaan,  of  tracing  a  resemblance  in  their 
flight  to  the  wilderness  to  that  of  the  Israelites,  and  of  assimila- 
ting their  laws  to  the  Mosaic  code.  In  every  piece  of  good  for- 
tune they  saw  an  especial  answer  to  their  prayers,  and  in  every 
mortification  and  calamity  the  direct  personal  malice  of  the  Devil 
and  his  agents.  This  vanity  and  credulity  their  preachers  had 
always  encouraged,  as  their  own  influence  necessarily  kept  pace 
with  the  superstition  of  the  people.  They  now  fell  back  upon  it 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  167 

as  their  last  resource  to  check  the  inevitable  consequences  of  the 
late  act  of  toleration. 

Among  this  numerous  and^powerful  class,  there  was  one  man, 
Dr.  Cotton  Mather,  admirably  well  qualified  to  preach  up  a 
crusade.  He  was  more  distinguished  for  subtle  reasoning,  and  a 
deep  knowledge  of  human  nature,  than  any  of  his  contemporaries, 
and  was  less  obstructed  by  scruples,  or  restrained  by  consequences. 
Extremes  meet.  The  Puritans  abhorred  any  thing  that  bore  the 
slightest  resemblance  to  Popery,  or  reminded  the  beholder  of  its 
abominations.  In  their  ceremonies  and  doctrines  they  succeeded 
as  well  as  they  could  have  desired  in  producing  a  contrast ;  but 
in  conduct  and  principle,  in  which  power  rests,  they  were  identi- 
cal with  one  of  the  most  able  and  artful  of  the  Romish  sects. 
Ultra  Puritans  like  Dr.  Cotton  Mather,  and  extreme  Romanists 
like  Ignatius  Loyola,  bear  so  striking  a  resemblance  to  each  other, 
that  they  may  be  both  classed  as  members  of  the  same  school. 
The  non-conforming  remnant  of  the  former  body  still  remaining 
in  the  Church  of  England,  who  call  themselves,  with  no  little 
modesty,  Evangelicals,  but  are  known  to  others  by  the  more 
appropriate  name  of  Low  Churchmen,  are  alike  distinguished  for 
their  violent  denunciations  against  Popery,  and  their  decided  par- 
tiality for  and  open  practice  of  Jesuitical  principles. 

Dr.  Mather  in  order  to  promote  a  revival  in  religion,  and  re- 
store the  lost  authority  of  the  clergy,  alarmed  the  fears  and 
awakened  the  superstition  of  the  whole  people  by  deliberately 
planning  and  promoting  the  witchcraft  delusion,  which  inflicted 
such  an  indelible  disgrace  on  his  country.  He  aspired  to  be  con- 
sidered the  great  champion  of  the  Church,  and  the  most  success- 
ful combatant  against  the  Prince  of  Darkness.  Eager  to  signal- 
ize himself  in  this  particular  kind  of  warfare,  he  seized  upon 
every  occurrence  that  could  be  represented  as  the  result  of  diabol- 
ical agency,  circulated  in  his  numerous  publications  as  many 
tales  of  supernatural  wonder  as  he  could  collect,  and,  at  last,  got 
up  the  delusion  he  so  much  desired  in  Boston.  Having  found  a 
fitting  instrument  for  his  purpose,  in  a  young  girl  of  remarkable 
quickness  and  versatility  of  talent,  he  took  her  into  his  house  for 
the  purpose  of  exorcising  her.  Among  many  proofs  she  gave  of 
being  possessed  of  a  devil,  one  was  that  she  was  very  fond  of  the 
Book  of  Common  Prayer,  which  she  called  her  Bible,  while  she 
could  not  decipher  a  syllable  of  the  Assembly's  Catechism.  At 


168 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 


the  same  time  she  exhibited  such  a  tendency  to  heresy,  she  was 
often  permitted  to  utter  words  of  consolation  and  truth,  and  she 
would  sometimes  stand  on  the  threshold  of  the  Rev.  Doctor's 
library  and  say  :  "  They  can't  come  in  ;  God  won't  sufier  them 
to  enter  into  thy  presence."  The  doctor  published  a  narrative 
of  her  diabolical  performances,  together  with  a  sermon,  which 
was  circulated  through  the  country,  and  reprinted  in  England 
under  the  superintendence  of  his  patron  and  friend,  the  noted 
Richard  Baxter,  who,  in  a  recommendatory  preface  of  his  own, 
affirmed,  "  that  he  who  would  not  be  convinced  by  all  the  evi- 
dence Dr.  Mather  presented  that  this  child  was  bewitched,  must 
be  a  very  Sadducee."  Time  had  not  softened  the  cruel  disposition 
of  this  persecuting  English  Dissenter,  nor  age  mitigated  his  fero- 
city. He  exulted  in  the  part  he  had  himself  taken  during  the 
Commonwealth  in  urging  on  Hopkins,  the  Puritan  witch-finder, 
in  his  murderous  occupation.  Alluding  with  unfeeling  bitterness 
to  the  execution  of  an  aged  clergyman  on  a  similar  charge,  who 
had  read  his  own  funeral  service  at  the  gallows,  and  whom  he 
called  "  the  reading  parson,"  he  encouraged  Mather  to  proceed  in 
his  glorious  career. 

The  work  of  the  Rev.  Doctor,  entitled  "  Memorable  Provi- 
dences, relating  to  Witchcraft  and  Possessions,"  received  the 
sanction  of  the  other  Puritan  divines  of  Boston,  who  declared 
that  the  author  had  clearly  proved  "  there  was  a  God,  and  a 
devil,  and  witchcraft.  The  old  heresy  of  the  sensual  Sad- 
ducees  denying  the  being  of  angels  either  good  or  evil,  died  not 
with  them  nor  will  it,  while  men  abandoning  both  faith  and 
reason,  count  it  their  wisdom  to  credit  nothing  but  what  they  see 
and  feel.  How  much  this  fond  opinion  hath  gotten  ground  in 
this  debauched  age  is  awfully  observable,  and  what  a  dangerous 
stroke  it  gives  to  settle  men  in  atheism  it  is  not  hard  to  discern. 
God  is  therefore  pleased,  besides  the  witness  borne  to  this  truth 
in  Sacred  Writ,  to  sufier  devils  sometimes  to  do  such  things  in 
the  world  as  shall  stop  the  mouths  of  gainsayers,  and  extort  a 
confession  from  them." 

This  sermon  affords  a  curious  specimen  of  fanatical  declama- 
tion. "  Witchcraft,"  says  the  author,  "  is  a  renouncing  of  God, 
and  the  advancement  of  a  filthy  devil  into  the  throne  of  the  Most 
High  ,  witchcraft  is  the  renouncing  of  Christ,  and  preferring  the 
communion  of  a  loathsome,  lying  devil,  before  all  the  salvation 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  169 

of  the  Lord  Redeemer ;  witchcraft  is  a  siding  with  Hell  against 
Heaven  and  Earth,  and  therefore  a  witch  is  not  to  be  endured  in 
either  of  them.  It  is  a  capital  crime,  and  is  to  be  prosecuted  as 
a  species  of  devilism  that  would  not  only  deprive  God  and  Christ 
of  all  His  honor,  but  also  plunder  man  of  all  his  comfort.  No- 
thing too  vile  can  be  said  of  it,  nothing  too  hard  can  be  done  to 
such  a  horrible  iniquity  as  witchcraft  is." 

The  favorite  texts  on  the  subject  were,  "  Thou  shalt  not  suffer 
a  witch  to  live,1'  and  "  Have  I  not  chosen  you  twelve,  and  one  is 
a  devil."  Such  ji  fearful  subject,  handled  in  such  an  exciting 
manner,  easily  prepared  the  way  for  the  tragedy  that  followed. 

While  this  delusion,  so  wickedly  devised  and  so  artfully  sus- 
tained, was  thus  spreading  over  the  metropolis,  its  operations 
were  going  on  with  tremendous  efficacy  in  Salem  and  the  neigh- 
boring towns.  Additions  were  continually  making  to  the  num- 
ber of  accusers,  by  voluntary  accessions,  and  by  those  who,  having 
been  charged  themselves,  to  save  their  lives,  confessed  and  be- 
came witnesses  against  others.  The  prisons  in  Salem,  Cam- 
bridge, and  Boston,  were  crowded  with  supposed  witches,  and 
all  the  securities  of  society  were  dissolved.  Every  man's  life 
was  at  the  mercy  of  his  neighbor.  Fear,  says  the  historian  of 
this  period,  sat  on  every  countenance.  Terror  and  distress  were 
in  all  hearts,  and  silence  pervaded  the  streets.  Many  of  the 
people  left  the  country ;  all  business  was  at  a  stand  ;  and  the 
feeling,  dismal  and  horrible  indeed,  became  general,  that  the  prov- 
idence of  God  teas  removed  from  them,  and  that  they  were 
given  over  to  the  dominion  of  Satan. 

To  meet  the  extraordinary  crisis  a  special  commission  was 
issued  to  several  of  the  principal  citizens  and  jurists  of  the  colony, 
constituting  them  a  court,  to  try  accused  persons  at  Salem. 
They  assembled  by  particular  appointment  at  the  Court  House, 
on  the  2d  of  June,  1692.  The  first  victim,  an  old  woman,  was 
executed  on  the  10th  of  June.  The  court  then  adjourned. 
The  government  during  the  recess  consulted  several  of  the 
Congregational  ministers  of  Boston  and  its  vicinity,  respecting 
the  prosecutions,  who,  while  they  urged  the  importance  of 
caution  and  circumspection  in  the  method  of  examination  and 
admission  of  testimony,  at  the  same  time  decidedly  and, earnestly 
recommended  that  the  proceedings  should  be  "  vigorously  carried 
on."  The  court  sat  again  on  the  30th  of  June,  and  five  more 

H 


170  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

old  women  were  put  to  death  on  the  19th  of  July.  It  opened 
again  August  the  5th,  and  on  the  19th  of  the  same  month  four 
men  and  one  woman  were  executed  ;  and  on  the  22d  of  Septem- 
ber two  men  and  six  women  were  hanged.  Eight  more  were 
condemned,  but  these  were  the  last  that  suffered  capitally,  at 
that  time.  One  man  refusing  to  plead  to  the  indictment,  was 
pressed  to  death  as  a  punishment  for  his  contumacious  silence. 

The  principal  immediate  effect  of  these  summary  and  san- 
guinary proceedings,  was  to  render  the  accusers  more  bold,  con- 
fident, and  daring.  They  began  to  feel  that  the  lives  of  the 
people  were  in  their  hands,  and  seemed  at  last  to  have  experi- 
enced a  nendlike  satisfaction  in  the  thought  of  bringing  infamy 
and  death  upon  the  best  and  most  honored  citizens  of  the  col- 
ony. Among  those  who  suffered  was  the  Rev.  Mr.  Burroughs, 
of  Salem,  whose  fate  struck  a  horror  through  the  community, 
which  it  required  all  the  art  and  sophistry  of  the  board  of  minis- 
ters to  calm.  He  was  a  well-educated  man,  had  received  the 
honors  of  Harvard  University,  in  1676,  of  a  spotless  "life,  and  no 
charge  of  inconsistency  as  a  minister  had  ever  been  attempted  to 
be  brought  against  him.  On  the  day  before  his  execution,  the 
unfortunate  woman,  Margaret  Jacobs,  who  appeared  as  a  wit- 
ness against  him,  obtained  permission  to  visit  him,  when  she 
made  a  full  acknowledgement  of  her  perjury,  and  entreated  him 
for  his  forgiveness.  This  he  freely  gave  her,  and  spent  some  time 
in  prayer  with  her.  When  the  hour  arrived  for  his  execution,  he 
was  carried  in  a  cart,  with  other  convicts,  from  the  jail  to  Gal- 
lows Hill,  about  an  eighth  of  a  mile  toward  Danvers.  While 
Mr.  Burroughs  was  on  the  ladder,  a  contemporary  writer  observes, 
"  he  made  a  speech  for  the  clearing  of  his  innoceney,  with  such 
solemn  and  serious  expressions  as  were  the  admiration  of  all  pres- 
ent. His  prayer  was  so  well  worded,  and  uttered  with  such 
composedness  and  such  fervency  of  spirit,  as  was  very  affecting, 
and  drew  tears  from  many,  so  that  it  was  apprehended  the  spec- 
tators would  hinder  the  execution.  To  meet  and  turn  back  this 
state  of  feeling,  the  accusers  cried  out  that  they  saw  the  Evil 
Being  standing  behind  him  in  the  form  of  a  black  man,  and  dic- 
tating every  word  he  uttered  ;  and  the  infamous  Cotton  Mather 
hurried  round  among  the  crowd  on  horseback,  haranguing  the 
people,  and  saying  that  it  was  not  to  be  wondered  at  that  Mr. 
Burroughs  appeared  so  well,  for  that  the  devil  often  transformed 


THE    ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA.  17l'  '' 

himself  into  an  angel  of  light.  This  artful  declaration,  together 
with  the  outcries  and  assertions  of  the  accusers,  had  the  intended 
effect  upon  the  fanatical  multitude.  When  the  body  was  cut 
down  it  was  dragged  hy  a  rope  to  a  hollow  place  excavated 
between  the  rocks,  stripped  of  its  garments,  thrown  with  two 
others  into  the  hole,  trampled  down  by  the  mob,  and  finally  left 
uncovered. 

Nor  did  Mather  forget  those  whose  orthodoxy  was  doubtful. 
The  religious  toleration  granted  and  enforced  by  Andross,  disclosed 
the  fact  that  there  were  some  of  the  Baptist  heresy  still  dwelling 
among  the  faithful.  When  positive  proof  could  not  be  obtained 
against  the  delinquent,  spectral  evidence  was  admitted,  a  term 
then  in  use  to  designate  information  exhibited  to  the  eyes  or  con- 
veyed to  the  ears  by  spirits  or  ghosts.  These  irresponsible  in- 
formers soon  gave  notice  that  the  devil  was  at  work  among  the 
people,  in  the  shape  of  a  Baptist  preacher,  making  them  renounce 
their  baptism,  and  be  dipped  anew  by  him,  and  reviling  and  ridi- 
culing the  lawful  ministers  of  the  elect.  The  absurdity  of  these 
charges  aaturally  led  people  to  inquire  if  there  was  not  fraud  in 
others.  Alarmed  at  the  magnitude  of  the  evil,  they  paused  and 
conferred  with  each  other  on  the  subject ;  but  that  which  finally 
overthrew  the  power  of  the  informers,  was  the  increasing  number 
of  persons  of  character,  station,  and  influence  among  the  accused. 
They  repeatedly  charged  the  Rev.  Mr.  Willard,  the  author  of 
the  "  Body  of  Divinity,"  one  of  the  most  respectable  ministers  of 
the  time.  They  accused  a  member  of  the  immediate  family  of 
Dr.  Increase  Mather,  who  had  recently  returned  from  a  special 
embassy  to  the  English  court  respecting  the  charter,  and  was 
then  the  President  of  Harvard  College,  the  man  whom  Eliot 
calls  the  "  Father  of  the  New  England  Clergy."  A  writer  of 
that  period  also  intimates  that  they  lodged  information  against  the 
wife  of  the  newly-arrived  governor,  Sir  William  Phipps,  and 
implicated  one  of  the  judges  of  the  court.  Their  last  accusation 
(which  was  preferred  against  Mrs.  Hale,  the  wife  of  the  minister 
of  the  First  Church  in  Beverly)  was,  in  the  opinion  of  the  public, 
the  most  false  and  wicked  of  all,  and  effectually  broke  the  spell 
by  which  they  had  held  the  minds  of  the  whole  colony  in  bondage. 
Her  genuine  and  distinguished  virtues  had  won  for  her  a  reputa- 
tion, and  secured  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  a  confidence,  which 
superstition  itself  could  not  sully  nor  shake.  Mr  Hale  had  un- 


172  THE   ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA. 

happily  been  active  in  all  the  previous  proceedings,  but  knowing 
the  innocency  and  piety  of  his  wife,  he  stood  forth  between  her 
and  the  storm  he  had  himself  helped  to  raise.  In  denouncing 
Mrs.  Hale,  the  whole  community  was  convinced  that  the  accus- 
ers had  perjured  themselves,  and  from  that  moment  their  power 
was  destroyed.  The  awful  delusion  ceased,  and  a  close  was  put 
to  one  of  the  most  tremendous  tragedies  in  the  history  of  real  life. 
There  are  few  if  any  other  instances  on  record  of  a  revolution  of 
opinion  and  feelings  so  sudden,  so  rapid,  and  so  complete. 

During  the  prevalence  of  this  fanaticism,  twenty  persons  "lost 
their  lives  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner,  fifty-five  escaped  death 
by  confessing  themselves  guilty,  one  hundred  were  in  prison,  and 
more  than  two  hundred  others  under  accusation.  Immediately 
upon  the  termination  of  the  excitement,  all  who  were  in  jail  were 
pardoned.  Nothing  more  was  heard  of  the  afflicted,  or  the  con- 
fessors. They  were  never  called  to  account  for  their  malicious 
impositions  and  perjury.  It  was  apprehended  that  a  judicial  in- 
vestigation might  renew  the  delusion,  and  all  were  anxious  to 
consign  the  whole  subject  as  speedily  and  as  effectually  as  possible 
to  oblivion.  The  state  of  things  which  Cotton  Mather  labored  to 
bring  about,  in  order  that  he  might  increase  his  own  influence 
over  an  infatuated  people,  by  being  regarded  by  them  as  mighty 
to  cast  out  and  vanquish  evil  spirits,  and  as  able  to  hold  Satan 
himself  in  chains  by  his  prayers  and  his  piety,  brought  him  at 
length  into  such  disgrace,  that  his  power  was  broken  down,  and 
he  became  the  object  of  public  ridicule  and  open  insult. 

The  excitement  that  had  been  produced  for  the  purpose  of  re- 
storing and  strengthening  the  influence  of  the  clerical  and  spiritual 
leaders,  resulted  in  effects,  which  reduced  it  to  a  still  lower  point. 
Congregationalism  then  received  a  shock  from  which  it  never  af- 
terward fully  recovered.  The  intelligence  of  the  ministers,  if  not 
their  integrity,  was  questioned,  and  doubt,  distrust,  and  infidelity 
soon  struck  root  amid  the  ruins  of  superstition.  While  their 
fearful  proceedings  were  in  progress,  Sir  William  Phipps  arrived 
with  a  new  charter,  the  nature  of  which  we  shall  describe  here- 
after, and  thus  were  terminated  all  hopes  of  the  restoration  of  the 
old  order  of  things.  It  forms  an  important  era  in  colonial  history. 
Hitherto,  the  people  had  governed  themselves  without  the  control 
of  England.  They  still  continued  to  do  so,  as  we  shall  see,  in 
spite  of  her  interference.  They  grew  up  in  neglect ;  when  re- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  173 

straint  was  attempted,  they  resisted  ;  and  the  moment  they  were 
able,  they  severed  the  connection.  The  Whigs  reversed  this  policy 
for  the  remaining  colonies  ;  they  began  with  restraint,  and  ended 
with  neglect  and  fatal  indulgence,  which  are  likely  to  produce  a 
similar  result.* 

*  Whoever  is  desirous  of  further  information  on  this  subject,  will  find  ample 
details  in  Hutchinson,  and  the  Collection  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society, 
but  the  best  account  is  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Upham,  from  whom  I  have  drawn 
largely. 


CHAPTER  V. 

REVIEW. 

The  two  most  interssting  Periods  of  American  History  extend,  1st.  From  the  *- 
Settlement  of  Massachusetts  to  the  English  Revolution  of  1688;  2d.  To  the 
Independence  of  the  Colonies  in  1783 — Review  of  the  first  Period — Number 
and  Names  of  Colonies  then  settled — Their  Population  and  Commerce — Ac- 
count of  the  different  Forms  of  Government  then  established  there — Great  In- 
crease of  democratic  Opinions — Change  in  Tone  of  Feeling  in  Virginia — Some 
Account  of  the  Church  there — Loyalty  of  Churchmen — State'  of  Maryland, 
Pennsylvania,  and  New  York — Effect  of  the  Conduct  of  New  England  upon 
them.  » 

THE  two  most  interesting  periods  of  the  colonial  history  of 
America  extend  from  the  first  settlement  of  Massachusetts  to  the 
great  English  Revolution  of  1688,  and  from  thence  to  the  peace  of 
1783,  that  insured  the  independence  of  the  revolted  provinces  con- 
stituting the  United  States.  We  have  now  arrived  at  the  termi- 
nation of  the  first,  and  must  pause  to  review  and  contemplate  it. 
It  is  by  far  the  most  curious  and  instructive,  inasmuch  as  during 
that  time  the  colonies  were  planted  ;  their  constitutions,  after 
various  alterations,  assumed  a  definite  form  ;  and  they  were  sensi- 
bly affected  by  every  change  which  the  innovations  of  those  days 
introduced  into  the  parent  country.  If  we  except  Georgia,  after- 
ward planted,  and  Florida,  subsequently  conquered,  the  conti- 
nental colonies  were  now  firmly  established,  and  consisted  of 
Massachusetts,  including  Plymouth  and  Maine,  Rhode  Island 
(embracing  Providence),  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  New 
Jersey,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  Virginia,  and  the 
two  Carolinas,  and  contained  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
thousand  inhabitants,  of  which  at  least  seventy -five  thousand 
were  settled  in  New  England.  Their  commerce  was  carried  on 
by  twenty-five  thousand  tons  of  shipping,  which  was  navi- 
gated by  two  thousand  six  hundred  seamen. 

No  regular  plan  of  colonization  had  ever  been  adopted.  Set- 
tlements formed  by  accident  or  caprice  were  left  to  languish  or 
flourish,  as  the  character  of  the  people,  or  the  nature  of  the  soil 
or  climate,  happened  to  operate.  They  were  not  trained  up, 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  175 

they  grew  up  ;  and  being  beyond  the  reach  of  parental  control, 
governed  themselves  in  their  own  way.  Many  constitutions 
were  drafted  and  proposed  for  adoption  ;  the  most  arbitrary,  im- 
practicable and  absurd  of  which  emanated  from  men  like  Locke, 
whom  England  delights  to  honor  as  her  most  distinguished 
sons.  It  may  be  some  consolation  to  the  admirers  of  that  great 
man  to  know  that  modern  statesmen,  with  a  wider  experience 
and  infinitely  increased  means  of  information,  have  exhibited  as 
little  skill  in  legislating  for  colonists  as  he  did.  Several  of  these 
forms  were  tried  in  different  places  with  more  or  less  success,  but 
at  the  time  we  are  now  speaking  of,  though  varying  from  each 
other  in  many  respects,  they  may  be  classed  under  three  heads  : 
Charter,  Proprietary,  and  Royal  Governments.  Of  the  first 
were  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut ;  of  the  sec- 
ond were  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland,  and  Carolina ; 
and  of  the  third  New  York,  Virginia,  and  New  Hampshire. 

The  origin  of  those  charter  governments,  as  we  have  seen, 
was  the  surreptitious  removal  to  America,  by  the  Puritans,  of  a 
patent  granted  to  certain  of  their  number  as  a  trading  company, 
whose  court  was  to  meet  and  act  in  London,  and  the  attempt  to 
adapt  this  incomplete  and  incompatible  instrument  to  the  pur- 
poses of  civil  government.  Subsequently  other  charters,  equally 
inapplicable,  were  granted,  in  which  not  even  the  unsubstantial 
appearance  of  sovereignty  was  reserved  to  England.  They  were 
pure  democracies.  They  elected  every  one  of  their  officers,  from 
the  highest  to  the  lowest,  and  displaced  them  at  pleasure,  while 
the  laws  they  enacted  went  into  operation  without  transmission 
to  England  for  approval.  The  main  object  in  devising  a  consti- 
tution for  a  dependency  is,  or  ought  to  be,  as  has  been  very  well 
expressed  by  an  author  of  very  great  weight  on  this  subject,  "  to 
make  the  new  establishment  as  useful  as  possible  to  the  trade  of 
the  mother  country  ;  to  secure  its  dependence ;  to  provide  for  the 
ease,  safety  and  happiness  of  the  settlers ;  to  protect  them  from 
their  enemies ;  and  to  make  an  easy  and  effectual  provision  to 
preserve  them  from  the  tyranny  and  avarice  of  their  governors, 
or  the  ill  consequences  of  their  own  licentiousness ;  that  they 
should  not,  by  growing  into  an  unbounded  liberty,  forget  that 
they  are  subjects,  or  lying  under  base  servitude,  have  no  reason  to 
think  themselves  British  subjects."  This  is  all  that  colonies, 
according  to  the  present  and  best  ideas  of  them,  can  or  ought  to  be. 


176  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

The  second  form  in  use  was  the  proprietary.  It  was  not  then 
difficult  for  a  person  who  had  interest  at  court  to  obtain  large 
tracts  of  land  not  inferior  in  extent  to  many  kingdoms,  and  to  be 
invested  with  a  power  over  them  very  little  less  than  regal,  to 
govern  by  what  laws,  and  to  form  what  sort  of  constitution  he 
pleased.  A  dependence  upon  the  crown  of  England  was  shown 
only  by  the  payment  of  an  Indian  arrow,  a  few  skins,  or  some 
other  trifling  acknowledgment  of  the  same  nature.  In  these  the 
lords  of  the  soil,  having  derived  from  the  same  source  the  regal 
rights  that  Counts  Palatine  enjoyed,  stood  in  the  place  of  the  king, 
who  possessed  within  their  limits  neither  the  means  of  effectually 
executing  what  the  supreme  legislature  had  enacted,  nor  the  un- 
defined authority  which  superintendence  may  claim.  Of  these, 
by  far  the  most  important  were  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania. 
In  the  former  the  constitution  consisted  of  a  Governor  and  Coun- 
cil appointed  by  the  proprietors,  and  an  Assembly  elected  by  the 
people.  The  reservations  of  the  crown  amounted  only  to  a  nega- 
tive on  the  nomination  of  the  Governor,  the  appointment  of  the 
officers  of  the  customs,  and  their  independence  from  local  control. 
In  Pennsylvania  the  proprietary  was  under  the  same  restrictions 
that  limited  that  of  Maryland,  but  was  more  restrained  by  the 
people,  for  their  legislature  had  but  two  parts,  the  Assembly  of 
the  delegates  and  the  Governor.  The  latter  wanting  the  great 
influence  which  the  Council  gave  in  other  places,  found  himself 
engaged  in  a  very  unequal  contest  whenever  his  sentiments  differ- 
ed from  those  of  the  House. 

In  the  royal  provinces  of  Virginia,  New  York,  and  New  Hamp- 
shire, the  Governor,  the  Council,  and  the  Delegates  formed  a  min- 
iature of  the  King,  the  Lords  and  the  Commons.  The  Governoi 
had  the  honor  of  representing  the  body  politic  of  the  king  ;  the 
members  of  the  Upper  House  awkwardly  discharged  the  twofold 
duty  of  the  peers,  by  acting  as  a  sort  of  privy  council,  and  as  sen- 
ators in  the  making  of  laws.  The  Delegates  engaged  the  submis- 
sion of  the  people  to  what  all  had  assented,  since  they  were 
chosen  by  themselves.  As  the  House  of  Assembly  was  the 
guardian  of  the  privileges  of  the  subject,  the  Council  was  consti- 
tuted chiefly  to  preserve  the  prerogative  of  the  crown,  and  to  se- 
cure the  dependence  of  the  colony ;  and  the  more  effectually  to 
answer  these  ends,  they  .were  appointed  during  pleasure  only. 
When  any  bill  passed  the  two  Houses,  it  came  before  the  Gov- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  177 

ernor,  who  declired  or  withheld  his  assent  as  he  thought  proper. 
If  approved  hy  him,  it  then  acquired  the  force  of  a  law,  although 
still  liable  at  any  period  within,  three  years  to  he  annulled  by 
the  royal  vote.  The  local  legislature,  whether  of  the  charter,  the 
proprietary,  or  the  royal  government,  had  but  little  similarity  to 
the  Parliament,  because  the  one  was  merely  that  of  a  district,  the 
other  of  an  empire.  The  former  was,  therefore,  provincial  and 
subordinate  ;  the  latter  was  universal  and  sovereign. 

Such  were  the  forms  of  government  that  then  prevailed,  and 
the  result  was  pure  democracy  in  the  charter  governments. 
There  was  but  a  shadow  of  a  shade  of  royalty  in  the  proprietary 
provinces  in  the  person  of  a  governor  who  represented,  but  dis- 
obeyed the  palatine,  who  himself  acknowledged  the  supreme  rank, 
but  disowned  the  authority  of  the  king.  Royal  governments 
were  distinguished  for  turbulence  and  disaffection.  In  all  of 
them  a  refractory  people  ruled,  overawed  or  bribed  the  needy  re- 
presentative of  royalty,  whose  silence  they  knew  how  to  secure, 
as  he  was  dependent  on  their  .bounty  for  his  support,  and  whose 
removal  they  could  always  obtain  by  loud  and  hollow  professions 
of  loyalty,  accompanied  by  protestations,  that  he  alone  was  the 
cause  of  their  distractions. 

The  exemption  from  all  control  enjoyed  by  the  people  of  New 
England  at  once  excited  the  envy,  the  admiration,  and  the  dis- 
obedience of  the  other  colonists,  while  the  democratic  opinions  of 
her  sectarian  population,  now  fast  extending  themselves  into  the 
other  parts  of  the  continent,  effected  a  rapid  change  in  the  senti- 
ments of  the  provincials.  Virginia,  which  had  been  originally 
settled  by  members  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  subsequently 
peopled  by  the  Cavaliers,  had  ever  been  distinguished  for  its 
loyalty.  It  had  been  divided  into  parishes  at  an  early  period,  and 
supported  a  regular  ministry.  By  the  law  of  the  land  there  was 
to  be  a  room  or  house  in  every  plantation  "for  the  worship  of 
God,  sequestered  and  set  apart  for  that  purpose  and  not  to  be  for 
any  temporal  use  whatever :  also  a  place  of  burial."  Absence 
from  public  worship  "without  allowable  excuse"  was  punishable 
by  the  forfeiture  of  a  pound  of  tobacco,  or  fifty  pounds  if  the  neglect 
was  continued  for  a  month.  The  celebration  of  divine  service 
was  to  be  conformable  to  the  Church  of  England.  No  minister 
was  to  be  absent  from  his  parish  more  than  two  months,  under 
pain  of  losing  half  his  salary,  or  the  whole  of  it,  together  with 

H* 


178  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

his  cure,  if  his  non-residence  extended  to  four  months.  He  who 
disparaged  a  clergyman  without  proof  was  to  be  fined  five  hundred 
pounds  of  tobacco,  and  to  beg  his  pardon  publicly  before  the  whole 
congregation.  Their  salaries  were  to  be  paid  out  of  the  first 
gathered  and  best  tobacco  and  corn,  and  no  man  was  to  dispose 
of  his  crops  before  paying  his  dues,  under  a  penalty  equal  to  the 
full  amount  of  his  tax. 

It  was  not  then  known  that  a  bishop  should  be  the  first,  and  not 
the  last  to  land  on  the  scene  of  missionary  labor  ;  and  the  clergy, 
often  badly  selected,  always  poorly  paid,  and  far  removed  from 
ecclesiastical  control,  were  gradually  overcome  by  the  intrigues 
and  misrepresentations  of  non-conformity,  by  the  want  of  proper 
protection  from  the  home  government,  and  the  growing  licentious- 
ness of  a  people,  whom  the  climate,  the  bounty  of  nature,  and  the 
facility  of  acquiring  wealth,  inclined  or  seduced  into  indulgence. 
Amid  all  the  temptations  as  well  as  the  difficulties  of  their  situa- 
tion, the  long  struggles  the  inhabitants  made  against  the  spread 
of  democracy,  and  the  warm  attachment  they  evinced  to  their 
king,  and  the  institutions  of  the  mother  country  clearly  prove 
how  loyal  and  dutiful  is  the  teaching  of  the  establishment,  how 
important  it  is  to  further  her  extension,  and  assist  in  the  endow- 
ment of  her  parish  churches,  vnt  only  in  America,  but  in  all  the 
British  possessions  abroad.  At  a  still  more  recent  period,  it  was 
a  most  consolatory  fact,  that  in  the  late  rebellion  in  Canada,  there 
were  no  Churchmen  among  the  traitors  who  have  been  so  merci- 
fully compensated  for  the  inconvenience  they  suffered  by  impris- 
onment or  exile. 

Neglected  as  the  clergy  were  in  Virginia,  and  unmindful  as 
they  themselves  sometimes  were  of  their  duty,  their  labors  were 
not  without  their  effect.  Spotswood,  writing  to  the  Bishop  of 
London,  says  :  "  I  will  do  justice  to  this  country  :  I  have  observed 
here  less  swearing  and  profaneness,  less  drunkenness  and  de- 
bauchery, less  uncharitable  feuds  and  animosities  and  less 
knaveries  and  villanies,  than  in  any  part  of  the  world  where 
my  lot  has  been."  But  at  the  same  time  he  remarked  and 
lamented  the  growth  of  republican  principles  :  "  The  inclina- 
tions of  the  country,"  he  said,  "  are  rendered  mysterious  by  a 
new  and  unaccountable  humor,  which  had  obtained  in  several 
counties,  of  excluding  the  gentlemen  from  being  burgesses,  and 
choosing  only  persons  of  mean  figure  and  character." 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  179 

The  people  of  Pennsylvania,  a  mixed  race  of  Germans,  Swedes, 
Dutch,  and  English  adventurers,  had  no  innate  sense  of  loyalty, 
and  no  common  feeling  of  religious  attachment  to  the  church  of 
the  mother  country.  Calvinists,  Lutherans,  Minists,  Moravians, 
Independents,  Anabaptists,  Socinians,  Dumplers,  and  Church- 
men lived  in  singular  harmony  together,  because  the  wants  of 
nature  left  them  but  little  time  for  the  indulgence  of  theological 
discussions ;  but  they  all,  with  the  exception  of  the  last,  agreed 
in  the  opinion  that  occupancy  gave  a  title  to  land,  and  that  a 
laborious  population  had  a  better  right  to  the  soil  than  a  specu- 
lating proprietary.  The  Quakers,  who  boasted  of  their  peaceful 
disposition  and  habits  of  submission,  though  not  turbulent,  became 
troublesome  subjects  by  their  passive  resistance  to  all  measures 
that  they  disapproved  of,  and  impeded  the  machinery  of  govern- 
ment by  refusing  to  aid  in  its  defense,  or  contribute  to  its  support 

Maryland,  originally  settled  by  Papists,  regarded  the  revolution 
with  dread,  and  had  more  sympathy  with  Rome  than  England, 
a  feeling  not  a  little  increased  by  the  contagious  disloyalty,  as 
well  as  the  unjust  and  ungrateful  persecution,  she  experienced 
from  the  Protestant  sectaries,  whom  she  had  received  and  toler- 
ated within  her  limits.  With  regard  to  both  these  provinces,  as 
well  as  Carolina,  the  Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Colonies  repre- 
sented to  the  king,  that  "  the  present  circumstances  and  relation 
they  stand  in  to  the  government  of  England  is  a  matter  worthy 
of  the  consideration  of  Parliament,  for  bringing  these  proprietaries 
and  dominions  under  a  nearer  dependence  on  the  Crown,  as  his 
Majesty's  revenue  in  the  plantations  is  very  much  concerned 
herein." 

New  York,  distracted  by  the  contentions  of  two  parties  for 
supremacy,  which  England  could  neither  compose  nor  redress, 
partook  of  the  general  contagion.  The  Council  reported  to  the 
Lords  of  the  Committee  of  Colonies,  in  July,  1691,  "that  New 
England  had  poisoned  those  Western  parts,  formerly  signal  for 
loyal  attachment,  with  her  seditious  and  anti-monarchical  prin- 
ciples ;"  while  Grahame,  the  Attorney-general,  informed  them 
that  "  the  principles  of  loyalty  and  good  affection  to  the  Crown, 
which  were  inherent  to  the  people  of  New  York,  are  now  extin- 
guished." The  contagion  soon  overspread  the  remaining  colonies, 
because  "  predisposition  of  habit  naturally  attracts  infection." 
Guarry,  whose  office  of  Surveyor-general  of  the  customs  enabled 


180  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

him  to  know  the  genuine  principles  and  practice  of  every  province, 
represented  officially  to  the  Board  of  Trade,  "that  this  malignant 
humor  is  not  confined  to  Virginia,  formerly  the  most  remarkable 
for  loyalty,  but  is  universally  diffused."  Very  shortly  after  this 
period,  so  rapid  had  been  the  spread  of  these  anti-monarchical 
opinions,  that  the  governor  writes  from  New  York  :  "Now  the 
mask  is  thrown  off.  The  delegates  have  called  in  question  the 
Council's  share  in  the  legislature,  trumped  up  an  inherent  right, 
declared  the  powers  granted  by  letters  patent  to  be  against  law, 
and  have  but  one  short  step  to  make  toward  what  I  am  unwilling 
to  name.  The  Assemblies  claiming  all  the  privileges  of  a  House 
of  Commons,  and  stretching  them  even  beyond  what  they  were 
ever  imagined  to  be  in  England,  should  the  Councilors  by  the 
game  rule  lay  claim  to  the  rights  of  a  House  of  Peers,  here  is  a 
body  co-ordinate  with,  claiming  equal  powers,  and  consequently 
independent  of,  the  great  council  of  the  realm ;  yet  this  is  the 
plan  of  government  they  all  aim  at,  and  make  no  scruple  to  own. 
But  as  national  and  sovereign  empire  is  to  be  exercised  by  them 
that  have  the  balance  of  dominion  in  the  nation,  so  provincial  or 
dependent  empire  is  not  to  be  exercised  by  them  that  have  the 
balance  of  dominion  in  the  province,  because  that  would  bring 
the  government,  from  being  subordinate,  to  be  national  and  in- 
dependent." 

As  no  consistent  or  well-digested  plan  was  prepared  to  remedy 
these  evils,  recourse  was  had  to  expostulation,  to  issuing  peremp- 
tory orders  to  governors,  and  to  threats  of  invoking  parliamentary 
interposition.  These  measures  only  aggravated  the  evils  they 
intended  to  repress,  for  commands  and  menaces  were  alike  disre- 
garded where  it  was  well  known  that  there  was  no  power  what- 
ever to  enforce  them  ;  and  the  authority  that  was  at  first  evaded 
or  disobeyed,  at  last  became  every  where  the  subject  of  ridicule 
or  contempt. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

POLITICAL  INSTITUTIONS  UNDER  THE   CHARTER. 

Office,  Duties,  and  Modes  of  Appointment  of  the  Charter  Governors — Court  of 
Assistants — Origin  and  Growth  of  the  House  of  Delegates — Jealousy  of  the 
People  as  to  the  Power  of  Governor  and  Magistrates — CodeofLaws  described 
— Specimens  of  the  Sentences  of  the  Courts — Perfect  Equality  secured  by 
their  Laws  and  Institutions — Account  of  Townships  and  Town  Meetings — 
Counties,  Towns,  and  General  Court  present  a  Miniature  of  a  great  Republic 
— Union  of  the  Colonies,  the  Foundation  of  the  Federal  Union  of  the  States — 
General  System  of  popular  Education  prepares  the  People  for  Self-government. 

WE  have  seen  in  the  foregoing  chapters,  that  in  civil  and 
ecclesiastical  matters,  Massachusetts  and  the  other  adjoining 
colonies,  known  as  New  England,  asserted  and  maintained  total 
independence.  An  attentive  consideration  of  these  institutions 
leads  us  to  the  conclusion  that  they  had  ever  in  view  the  project 
of  adhering  as  nearly  as  possible  to  a  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

From  the  moment  of  their  landing  in  America,  and  taking 
possession  of  the  country,  though  they  preserved  a  friendly  inter- 
course with  England,  the  colonists  extinguished  all  obedience, 
and  severed  all  political  connection  with  it.  They  set  up  a 
government  of  their  own,  based  on  popular  election,  and,  as  free- 
men under  the  charter,  claimed  and  enjoyed  the  right  of  model- 
ing their  constitution  in  their  own  way,  and  appointing  their  own 
officers,  to  exercise  for  a  limited  period  executive  and  legislative 
functions.  Their  republicanism  was  not  theoretical,  but  practi- 
cal ;  not  having  a  predominant  character  of  self-government,  but 
possessing  no  other  ingredient  but  the  will  of  the  people.  Jealous 
of  gubernatorial  influence,  they  delegated  as  small  a  share  of 
authority  to  the  governor  as  possible,  who  was  chosen  annually, 
and  was  little  more  than  chairman  of  the  assistants.  He  had 
the  power  of  convening  the  legislature  upon  urgent  occasions ; 
but  this  he  only  enjoyed  in  common  with  the  deputy-governor, 
and  the  majority  of  the  councilors,  either  of  whom  could  com- 
mand their  attendance  if  he  neglected,  or  did  not  see  fit  to  do  so. 


182  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

He  voted  with  the  assistants,  but  merely  as  a  member  of  the 
court,  his  opinion  having  no  more  weight  necessarily  attached  to 
it  than  that  of  another  individual,  unless  there  was  an  equal 
division,  which  entitled  him  to  a  casting  vote ;  but  he  could  not 
adjourn,  prorogue,  or  dissolve  them,  acts  which  were  reserved  for 
the  majority  only.  He  issued  commissions  to  civil  and  military 
officers ;  but  the  former  were  appointed  by  the  court,  and  the 
latter  generally  elected  by  their  companies  or  regiments. 

The  oldest  dispute  in  the  colony  related  to  the  grounds  and 
limits  of  the  governor's  authority.  At  Boston,  on  occasions  of 
dividing  the  town  lands,  "  men  of  the  inferior  sort  were  chosen." 
The  doctrine  of  rotation  was  asserted,  even  to  the  neglect  of 
Winthrop,  "  lest  there  should  be  a  governor  for  life."  When  one 
of  the  elders  proposed  that  the  office  should  be  held  in  that  man- 
ner, the  deputies  immediately  resolved  that  no  magistrate  of  any 
kind  should  be  elected  for  more  than  a  year.  The  justices  once 
assembling,  in  a  sort  of  aristocratic  caucus,  nominated  several 
persons  for  the  choice  of  the  people,  but  they  took  care  to  neglect 
every  one  of  the  candidates  thus  proposed.  On  the  other  hand, 
when  one  of  the  ministers  attempted  to  dissuade  the  freemen  from 
selecting  certain  persons  who  were  obnoxious  to  the  clergy,  they 
disliked  the  interference  of  the  adviser,  more  than  they  approved 
of  the  doctrine  of  frequent  change,  and  returned  them  almost 
without  an  exception.*  So  deeply  rooted  and  widely  spread  was 
the  prejudice  against  a  life  tenure,  that  it  may  be  said  to  have 
prevailed  throughout  New  England.  Connecticut,  by  a  distinct 
declaratory  clause  in  its  fundamental  constitutions,  carefully 
guarded  against  any  such  result. 

The  advantage  that  democracy  gains  by  making  provision  for 
public  officers  annually,  and  not  attaching  fixed  salaries  to  their 
situations,  was  very  early  perceived.  In  a  contested  election  for 
governor,  in  the  year  1641,  Mr.  Bellingham  was  chosen  over  his 
rival  Winthrop,  by  a  majority  of  six  votes.  The  result  was  not 
agreeable  to  the  General  Court ;  and  the  first  order  they  made, 
after  proceeding  to  business,  was  to  repeal  a  standing  law,  allow- 
ing him  a  yearly  salary  of  £100.  This  precedent  they  afterward 
adopted,  as  we  shall  presently  see,  with  great  success,  in  embar- 
rassing all  the  subsequent  representatives  of  royalty,  until  the 
actual  breaking  out  of  hostilities. 

*  Bancroft;  Winthrop. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  133 

The  assistants  or  councilors  were  annually  chosen  by  the  whole 
body  of  freemen  in  the  colony.  They  constituted,  with  the 
governor,  at  the  first  settlement,  the  whole, 'and  subsequently  one 
of  the  two  branches  of  the  Legislature,  and  were  also  the  Supreme 
Court  in  all  civil  and  criminal  causes,  except  in  those  instances 
in  which  an  appeal  was  allowed  to  the  General  Assembly.  When 
the  Lower  House  came  into  existence,  the  members  chose  the 
Speaker,  and  proceeded  to  business,  not  only  without  presenting 
him  to  the  governor  for  his  approbation,  but  without  even  ac 
quainting  him  with  the  result  of  their  election,  or  the  name  of 
the  person  whom  they  had  selected. 

In  the  first  little  republic,  every  thing  was  based,  as  far  as  the 
freemen  were  concerned,  on  general  and  often-recurring  elections. 
It  was  a  fresh  and  young  shoot  from  the  tree  of  liberty,  and  grew 
with  all  the  vigor  of  youth  into  wild  luxuriance,  that  defied  alike 
the  -pruning-knife  or  the  training  hand  of  cautious  experience, 
until  it  overran  the  whole  country.  By  a  natural  consequence  of 
causes,  the  operation  of  which  was  not  then  at  all  understood,  the 
Upper  House  became  more  dependent  on  the  popular  voice  than 
the  lower  branch,  inasmuch  as  it  was  chosen  by  the  freemen  of 
the  whole  commonwealth,  and  the  other  by  those  resident  in  the 
several  districts.  The  assistants,  therefore,  had  a  larger  constit- 
uency to  conciliate  and  represent,  and  were  consequently  more 
under  observation,  and  more  exposed  in  the  conflicts  of  party,  to 
the  ingratitude  of  unstable  friends,  or  the  rancor  of  inflamed 
opponents.  As  sanctity  of  manners  and  soundness  of  doctrine 
were  strong  recommendations  to  popular  favor,  they  became  every 
day  more  expert  in  the  language  of  cant,  and  more  obsequious  to 
their  partisans  the  ministers,  until  at  last  they  were  unable  to 
stem  the  torrent  of  fanaticism,  whose  channels  they  had  so  in- 
dustriously widened  and  deepened  themselves.  Stripes,  confisca- 
tions, banishment,  and  death,  were  liberally  awarded  to  heresy, 
to  gratify  the  ignorant  zeal  of  the  mass,  and  the  vindictive  malice 
of  the  clergy,  who  considered  dissent  from  their  opinions  as  far 
more  criminal  than  rape,  burglary,  or  highway  robbery — the  one 
being  punishable,  if  persisted  in,  with  death ;  and  the  others  en- 
titled to  those  lesser  penalties  that  were  awarded  to  offenses  not 
capital. 

Men  who  fail  in  obedience  themselves,  generally  compensate 
for  the  defect  by  extorting  it  from  others.  A  stubborn,  unyielding 


1S4  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

temper  is  the  cause  of  these  peculiarities.  While  the  Puritans 
of  New  England  made  the  world  ring  with  their  accusations 
against  the  tyranny  of  Laud,  they  did  not  disdain  to  make  use 
of  the  instruments  of  despots,  to  enforce  conformity  to  their  own 
views.  For  this  purpose,  they  passed  a  law  on  the  subject  of 
torture,  which,  though  nominally  prohibiting,  authorizes  its  appli- 
cation, and  regulates  its  use.  It  begins  by  forbidding  recourse  to 
be  had  to  it  generally,  but  excepts  any  case  in  which  the  criminal 
is  first  fully  convicted  by  clear  and  sufficient  evidence;  after 
which,  if  it  be  apparent,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  that  there 
are  confederates  with  him,  he  may  be  tortured  ;  yet  not  with  such 
instruments  as  are  barbarous  and  inhuman. 

The  rigor  of  justice  extended  itself  as  well  to  the  protection 
of  the  rights  of  property  as  to  the  moral  habits  of  the  people.  A 
remarkable  instance  of  this  is  shown  in  the  power  given  to 
creditors  over  the  persons  of  their  debtors.  The  law  admitted  of 
a  freeman's  being  sold  for  service  to  discharge  his  liabilities, 
though  it  would  not  allow  of  the  sacrifice  of  his  time  by  being 
kept  in  prison,  unless  some  estate  was  concealed. 

It  was  owing  to  a  jealousy  of  magisterial  authority  that  a 
compilation  of  the  laws  was  sought  for  with  avidity  by  the 
people.  They  were  disinclined  to  invest  the  justices  with  any 
discretionary  power  whatever,  in  apportioning  punishments  to  the 
circumstances  of  each  particular  case,  and  required  an  exact 
penalty  to  be  attached  to  every  offense,  preferring  to  lose  the 
benefit  of  mitigation  to  incurring  the  dangers  of  arbitrary  de- 
cisions. In  order  to  appease  the  murmurs  of  dissatisfaction,  the 
work  was  undertaken  in  earnest,  and  after  fourteen  years  of 
deliberation  of  committees  formed  of  magistrates,  ministers,  and 
elders,  a  code  was  produced  and  ratified  by  the  Legislature. 
These  laws,  ninety-eight  in  number,  were  named  "  fundament- 
als," or  "body  of  liberties."  This  curious  compilation  com- 
mences with  a  general  statement  of  the  rights  of  the  inhabitants, 
in  seventeen  articles,  of  which  several  may  now  be  found  em- 
bodied in  the  Constitution  of  the  Great  Republic,  and  the  State 
Bills  of  Rights.  Next  follow  "rights,  rules  and  liberties  in 
judicial  matters,"  forty-one_  in  number ;  "  liberties  concerning 
freemen,"  twenty  in  all,  and  chiefly  referring  to  the  civil  polity 
of  the  colony.  Two  are  devoted  to  the  liberties  of  women. 
Liberties  of  children,  and  of  servants,  are  each  contained  in  foui 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  185 

articles.  Liberties  of  foreigners  and  strangers  occupy  three  addi- 
tional ones,  and  the  "brute  creation"  is  protected  by  two. 
Capital  laws  inflict  the  punishment  of  death  on  twelve  offenses, 
and  the  whole  concludes  with  an  account  of  the  liberties  the 
Lord  has  given  His  churches. 

It  is  a  most  extraordinary  production,  and  will  well  repay  the 
labor  of  perusing.  That  it  was  unwillingly  compiled  and  pub- 
lished is  well  known ;  but  this  compulsory  task  was  so  adroitly 
performed,  that  most  clauses  contain  some  qualifications  to  render 
them  inoperative.  Thus  every  church  may  choose  its  minister, 
provided  he  be  able,  pious  and  orthodox.  Private  meetings  are 
allowed  to  all  sorts  of  Christian  people,  "if  they  be  without 
offense  as  for  number,  time,  place,  and  other  circumstances." 
"  There  shall  be  no  captivity  among  us,"  but  the  slave-trade  is 
established  by  the  exception,  unless  it  be  captives  taken  in  just 
wars,  those  who  sell  themselves,  or  such  as  are  sold  to  us. 
Liberty  and  hospitality  is  granted  to  all  foreigners  who  profess 
the  true  Christian  religion.  No  inhabitants  to  be  compelled  to 
go  beyond  the  jurisdiction  in  any  offensive,  but  only  in  vindictive 
and  defensive  wars,  and  so  on.*  It  contains  not  the  most  distant 
allusion  to  the  laws  of  England,  since  it  was  compiled  chiefly 
from  the  Jewish  system,  which  was  adopted  because  it  had  been 
given  to  an  elect  people  ;  and  the  common  law  and  statutes  of 
their  fathers  were  no  more  regarded  in  Massachusetts  than  in 

*  Apparel  was  regulated  by  these  rigid  magistrates  as  well  as  morals.  In 
the  year  1649  the  following  circular  was  sent  through  the  country  by  the  magis- 
trates :  "  Forasmuch  as  the  wearing  of  long  hair,  after  the  manner  of  the  Rus- 
sians (Cavaliers  ?)  and  barbarous  Indians,  has  begun  to  invade  New  England, 
contrary  to  the  rule  of  God's  word,  which  says  it  is  a  shame  for  a  man  to  wear 
long  hair,  as  also  the  commendable  custom  generally  of  all  the  godly  of  our 
nation,  until  within  this  few  years.  We,  the  magistrates  who  have  subscribed 
this  paper  (for  the  showing  of  our  own  innocency  in  this  behalf)  do  declare  and 
manifest  our  dislike  and  detestation  against  the  wearing  of  such  long  hair,  as 
against  a  thing  uncivil  and  unmanly,  whereby  men  do  deforme  themselves  and 
offend  sober  and  modest  men,  and  doe  corrupt  good  manners.  We  doe  therefore 
earnestly  entreat  all  the  elders  of  this  jurisdiction,  as  often  as  they  shall  see 
cause,  to  manifest  their  zeal  against  it  in  their  public  administrations,  and  to 
take  care  that  the  members  of  their  respective  churches  be  not  defiled  there, 
with ;  that  so  such  as  shall  prove  obstinate,  and  will  not  reform  themselves,  may 
have  got  God  and  man  to  witness  against  them. 

"Jo.  ENDICOTT,  Governor. 

"THOS.  DUDLEY,  Deputy- Governor. 

"  And  others. 
"The  3d  month,  6th  day,  1649." 


186  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA 

Germany  or  France,  as  they  were  deemed  inapplicable  to  their 
condition.  They  declined  to  administer  justice  in  the  name  of 
the  kin»,  because  they  did  not  like  the  appellation  nor  admit  his 
jurisdiction,  but  preferred  to  use  the  more  appropriate  term  of  "  the 
established  authority,"  since  they  affected  the  state  of  a  common- 
wealth.* These  ordinances  were,  however,  of  their  own  making  as 
well  as  their  Constitution,  and  both  were  the  acts  of  the  people. 

They  held  the  maxim  Vox  populi,  vox  Dei  to  be  equally  true 
in  politics  and  religion.  Public  opinion  in  a  free  country,  when 
rightly  understood,  exercises  a  most  salutary  and  necessary  influ- 
ence over  the  officers  of  government ;  but  if  it  be  so  closely  applied 
as  to  absorb  all  independence,  it  ceases  to  be  a  check  and  degen- 
erates into  tyranny.  It  does  not  limit  and  circumscribe  authority 
by  constitutional  guards,  it  annihilates  it. 

Equality  of  condition  was  secured  by  a  law  regulating  the  de- 
scent and  distribution  of  the  real  and  personal  property  of  intes- 
tates. The  exclusive  claim  of  any  one  heir  was  not  listened  to, 
but  an  equal  division  was  made  among  all,  reserving  only  to  the 
eldest  son  a  double  portion,  to  reward  him  for  his  labor  and  assist-. 
ance  in  acquiring  the  estate,  and  to  enable  him  to  stand  in  loco 
parentis  to  the  family  when  deprived  of  its  natural  guardian. 

*  While  they  were  without  a  code  or  body  of  laws,  their  sentences  seem  to 
have  been  adapted  to  the  circumstances  of  a  large  family  of  children  and 
servants,  as  will  appear  from  the  following-,  which,  from  among  many  others  of 
the  same  sort,  I  have  extracted  from  the  public  records  : 

"  John  Blastowe,  for  stealing  four  baskets  of  corn  from  the  Indians,  is  ordered 
to  return  them  eight  baskets,  to  be  fined  five  pounds,  and  hereafter  to  be  called 
by  the  name  of  Josiah,  instead  of  Mr.,  as  formerly."  "Sergeant  Perkins  is 
ordered  to  carry  forty  turfs  to  the  fort  for  being  drunk.''  "  Captain  Lovell  to  be 
admonished  to  take  heed  of  light  carriage."  Thomas  Petit  for  suspicion  of  slan- 
der, idleness,  and  stubbornness,  to  be  severely  whipped  and  kept  in  hold." 
"  Catherine,  the  wife  of  Richard  Cornish,  found  suspicious  of  incontinency, 
seriously  admonished  to  take  heed." — Hutchinson,  vol.  I.  p.  436. 

The  Connecticut  laws,  which  were  framed  and  executed  by  people  vastly 
inferior  in  ability  and  education  to  those  of  Massachusetts,  are  conspicuous  foi 
their  harshness  as  well  as  their  absurdity  : 

"No.  17.  No  one  shall  run  of  a  Sabbath-day,  or  walk  in  his  garden  or  else 
where,  except  reverently  to  and  from  church. 

"  No.  18.  No  one  shall  travel,  cook  victuals,  make  beds,  sweep  houses,  cut 
hair,  or  shave  on  the  Sabbath-day. 

"No.  19.  No  husband  shall  kiss  bis  wife,  and  no  mother  shall  kiss  her  child 
upon  the  Sabbath-day. 

"  No.  31.  No  one  shall  read  Common  Prayer,  keep  Christmas  or  Saint's  days, 
make  mince  pies,  dance,  or  play  on  any  instrument  of  music,  except  the  drum, 
the  trumpet,  and  the  Jews'  harp." 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  187 

This  fundamental  law  in  a  country  where  people  generally  marry 
early  and  have  numerous  children,  effectually  destroys  the  natural 
tendency  of  property  to  accumulate  in  the  hands  of  a  few. 
Hereditary  claims  were  also  rejected,  their  public  officers  being 
all  annually  chosen  from  the  body  of  freemen,  without  regard  to 
distinctions.  Old  associations  and  early  prejudices  in  favor  of 
rank  and  fortune,  though  theoretically  disclaimed,  were  not  inop- 
erative at  first  in  the  choice  of  the  governor  and  assistants  ;  but 
they  gradually  gave  way  to  the  principles  they  had  laid  down  for 
themselves,  and  in  time  station  or  family  connections  were  found 
to  be  aristocratical  barriers  to  public  favor.  At  an  early  date 
perfect  equality  was  aimed  at.  Not  more  than  half  a  dozen  gen- 
tlemen took  the  title  of  Esquire,  nor  more  than  four  or  five  out  of 
a  hundred  freemen  that  of  Mr.,  although  they  were,  in  general, 
men  of  substance.  Goodman  and  Goodwife  were  the  common 
appellation.  Destroying  the  distinctions  of  rank,  conferring  equal 
rights  on  all  the  freemen,  and  sanctioning  a  distribution  of  real  es- 
tates among  the  children  of  intestates,  were  the  foundation  and  sup- 
port of  the  first,  as  they  now  are  of  the  second  American  Republic. 

Their  militia  service,  though  regulated  by  law,  was  enforced 
by  officers  chosen  by  the  companies,  and  placed  under  the  com- 
mand of  a  general  nominated  by  the  freemen,  but  approved  and 
appointed  by  the  court. 

The  principle  of  self-government  was  claimed  and  exercised  by 
the  inhabitants  of  townships,  subdivisions  of  counties  correspond- 
ing in  some  respects  to  English  parishes.  These  little  local  com- 
munities possessed  certain  corporate  rights.  The  people  assembled 
together,  and  voted  sums  of  monev  to  provide  for  the  poor,  the 
support  of  religion,  the  erection  of  public  buildings,  the  repair  of 
highways,  the  maintenance  of  police,  and  similar  objects ;  and 
also  for  the  purpose  of  electing  assessors,  collectors,  justices,  and 
select  men.  The  duty  of  these  last  officers  was  to  see  the  law 
of  the  land  observed,  and  especially  to  enforce  the  orders  of  the 
people  in  all  matters  relating  to  the  good  government  and  internal 
management  of  the  township.  They  were  also  charged  with  the 
direction  of  the  education  of  the  rising  generation,  the  support  of 
the  ministers,  and  the  mode  of  apportioning  and  collecting  the 
sum  ordered  by  the  general  court  to  be  raised  within  their  juris- 
diction for  State  purposes.* 

*  See  Wonder  Working  Providence,  Sion's  Saviour,  p.  191. 


188  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

A  law,  passed  at  a  very  "early  date  (about  1636),  gave  a  pe- 
culiar character  to  these  townships.  It  prohibited  the  erection 
of  dwelling-houses  in  any  new  town  at  a  greater  distance  than 
half  a  mile  from  the  church.  Lands,  in  consequence,  were  seldom 
granted  to  individuals,  but  only  to  companies,  associated  together 
for  settling  a  plantation.  The  New  England  rural  districts  were 
thus  made  villages,  differing  in  that  respect  from  those  of  Virginia, 
whence  resulted  a  concentrated  population.  This  arrangement 
was  originally  made  for  the  religious  organization  of  the  settlers  ; 
but  as  it  produced  combination,  it  effected  in  the  end  most  import- 
ant political  as  well  as  social  results. 

The  town  meeting  was  a  place  where  matters  were  publicly 
discussed,  whether  they  related  to  the  votes  and  conduct  of  rep- 
resentatives in  the  General  Court,  or  were  only  of  parochial  inter- 
est. They  were  normal  schools  for  "politicians,  where  aspirants 
for  popularity  railed  against  the  salaries  and  extravagancies  of  the 
commonwealth,  declaimed  on  the  rights  and  privileges  of  freemen, 
extolled  the  value  and  importance  of  the  charter,  drew  frightful 
pictures  of  the  profligacy  of  princes,  and  their  wicked  attempts  to 
enslave  the  people,  and  by  their  pompous  orations  encouraged 
their  countrymen  to  prefer  death  to  dependence.  Questions  of 
privilege,  that  occasionally  arose  between  the  different  branches 
of  the  legislature,  were  here  most  learnedly  discussed,  as  well  as 
matters  of  doctrine  and  discipline,  that  sometimes  disturbed  the 
churches.  Points  that  have  puzzled  divines  and  philosophers, 
were  disposed  of  with  great  ease  and  fluency,  and  the  applicability 
of  texts  of  Scripture  to  every  imaginable  case  most  clearly  demon- 
strated.* The  expediency  of  uniting  with  the  other  colonies,  and 
the  plans  of  attack  and  defense  in  the  French  and  Indian  wars, 
being  of  more  interest,  were  treated  with  less  cant,  and  more 
knowledge  and  discretion.  In  short,  in  those  little  democratic 
assemblies  were  trained  the  men,  who  were  afterward  to  maintain 
their  rights  in  the  General  Court. 

The  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  therefore,  was  a  minia- 
ture of  the  great  Confederation.  The  General  Government  and 

,  *  The  General  Court  being-  much  agitated  on  the  question  of  the  right  of  veto 
in  the  assistants,  called  upon  Mr.  Cotton,  the  great  divine  of  the  day,  to  preach 
on  the  subject.  He  chose  the  following  most  pertinent  text  (Hag.  ii,  4) :  "  Yet 
now  be  strong,  O  Zernbbabel,  said  the  Lord ;  and  be  strong,  O  Joshua,  son  of 
Josedech,  the  High  Priest ;  and  be  strong,  all  ye  people  of  the  land,  and  work : 
for  I  am  with  you." — Hub.  Hist,  of  New  England. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  189 

Supreme  Judical  Establishment,  having  jurisdiction  over  the 
whole  country,  centred  at  Boston,  as  those  of  the  United  States 
now  do  at  Washington.*  Every  township,  as  we  have  seen, 
was,  to  a"  certain  extent,  for  all  internal  matters,  independ- 
ent, made  by-laws  for'  its  own  inhabitants,  regulated  its  own 
fiscal  and  territorial  affairs,  arid  was  represented  in  the  State 
legislature  at  the  capital.  Massachusetts  was,  in  fact,  a  union 
of  many  little  sovereign  communities,  with  a  federal  govern- 
ment, composed  of  district  delegates,  with  the  power  of  enacting 
laws  for  all,  in  those  matters  in  which  the  co-operation  of  all 
was  necessary,  and  without  which  authority  could  neither  be 
respected  nor  maintained.  The  supreme  power  of  the  common- 
wealth, whether  for  defense,  revenue,  or  legislation,  was  indis- 
pensable for  the  welfare,  if  not  for  the  existence  of  the  state. 
The  uncontrolled  management  of  their  local  affairs  was  not  less 
essential  to  the  freedom  and  the  independence  of  the  townships. 

It  was  as  pirited  and  able  sketch,  which  the  masterly  hands 
of  modern  politicians  have  filled  up,  without  destroying  the  like- 
ness, and  its  features  are  all  discernible  in  the  inimitable  Consti- 
tution of  the  United  States.  The  resemblance  is  most  striking 
in  the  confederation  entered  into  in  1643,  already  described, 
under  the  designation — "  The  United  Colonies  of  New  England," 
consisting  of  delegates  from  Massachusetts,  Plymouth,  Connecti- 
cut, and  New  Haven,  the  prototype  of  the  great  American 
Legislature  of  the  present  day.  It  suggested  the  idea  of  all  those 
Conventions,  whether  provincial  or  continental,  that  preceded  the 
war  of  independence,  as  well  as  the  Congress.  It  even  contained 
some  articles,  now  to  be  found  in  the  American  Constitution  ; 
namely,  the  delivery  of  runaway  slaves  and  fugitives,  and  the 
provision  that  judgments  of  courts  of  law  and  probate  of  wills 
in  each  colony,  should  have  full  force  and  effect  in  all  the  others. 
It  carefully  guarded  the  separate  privileges  of  each  contracting 
province ;  and  thus  the  doctrine  of  State  Rights  was  first  broached 
and  acted  upon  two  hundred  years  ago. 

But  the  first  settlers  of  Massachusetts  laid  the  basis  of  theii 


*  Under  pretense  of  choosing  a  geographical  centre  for  Congress,  American 
statesmen  provided  against  the  danger  of  being  overawed  or  even  influenced 
by  the  mob  of  a  large  city.  Washington  is  little  more  than  a  small  town,  com- 
posed of  public  buildings  and  hotels — a  simple  arrangement  that  would  strip 
Paris  of  its  variety  and  insecurity. 


190  THE    ENGLISH    IX   AMERICA. 

freedom  on  a  broader,  better,  and  surer  foundation,  than  any  of 
those  institutions  to  which  I  have  referred — on  a  \veli-regnlated, 
well-proportioned,  and  general  education.  Montesquieu,  in  his 
"Spirit  of  Laws,"*  says  that  the  principle  of  a  republic  is 
"virtue,"  which  he  denned  politically,  to  be  "respect  for  the 
laws,  and  a  love  for  our  country."  In  this  sense,  virtue  is  found 
nowhere  so  strong  as  in  the  United  States.  The  frightful  tales 
related  by  travelers,  of  Lynching  and  summary  justice  inflicted  by 
excited  mobs,  are  occurrences  peculiar  to  territories  bordering  on 
civilization.  In.  all  ages,  and  in  all  countries,  barbarians  and 
outlaws  resort  to  fastnesses,  or  dwell  on  the  confines  of  the  desert, 
in  the  inaccessible  depths  of  the  wilderness.  In  America,  these 
regions  are  the  resort  of  their  own  criminals,  and  the  refuse  of 
Europe  ;  but  it  would  be  the  height  of  prejudice,  or  injustice,  not 
to  give  the  population  at  large  the  credit  they  deserve,  for  respect 
for  the  laws.t  They  are  a  sensible  and  practical  people,  and 
feel  that  the  safety  and  durability  of  their  institutions  depend 
upon  this  submissive  obedience.  They  are  aware  that  they  are 
their  own  laws,  enacted  by  themselves,  and  that  if  they  dis- 
appoint their  expectation,  they  have  a  better  remedy  in  repealing, 
than  in  violating  them.  They  know  instinctively,  what  that 
great  philosopher  had  discovered  by  reasoning  and  research,  that, 
in  a  republican  government,  the  whole  power  of  education  is 
required.  Most  nobly  has  this  duty  been  discharged. 

Scarcely  had  the  ground  in  the  neighborhood  of  Boston  been 
cleared,  when  the  General  Court  founded  a  college,  which  they 
afterward  called  Harvard,  in  token  of  gratitude  to  a  clergyman 
of  that  name,  who  bequeathed  a  considerable  sum  of  money  to  it. 
The  town  of  Newtown  in  which  it  was  situated,  was  denomina- 
ted Cambridge,  the  name  of  the  alma  mater  of  many  of  the 
principal  people  in  the  colony.  In  this  respect,  they  showed  a 
far  greater  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  of  the  proper  course  of 
education,  than  the  inhabitants  of  the  present  British  colonies. 
They  first  established  a  university,  and  then  educated  down- 

*  Spirit  of  Laws,  Vol.  I.  Book  4,  Chap.  5. 

t  Something  very  like  Lynching  was  attempted  in  London  lately,  at  Barclay's 
brewery,  on  Marshal  Haynau ;  and  although  hundreds  were  concerned  in  it,  the 
Government  were  unable  or  unwilling  to  bring  the  offenders  to  justice.  It  is 
not  the  fashion  in  England  to  hang  traitors.  Loyalty  is  becoming  a  rare  offense, 
and  excites  the  irrepressible  ire  of  the  "  most  enlightened  citizens"  of  the  great- 
est city  in  Europe. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  191 

ward  to  the  common  schools,  as  auxiliary  seminaries,  which 
were  thus  supplied  with  competent  teachers  ;  while  duly  qualifi- 
ed professional  men  and  legislators,  were  simultaneously  provided 
for  the  state.  In  Canada,  there  is  an  unfriendly  feeling  toward 
these  institutions,  which  people,  who  play  upon  popular  prejudice 
or  ignorance,  endeavor  to  foster,  by  representing  them  as  engross- 
ed by  the  sons  of  the  rich,  who  are  able  to  pay  the  expense  of 
their  own  instruction,  without  assistance  from  the  public  treasury ; 
and  that  all  that  is  thus  bestowed,  is  so  much  withdrawn  from 
the  more  deserving  but  untrained  children  of  the  poor. 

Six  years  after  the  arrival  of  Winthrop,  the  General  Court 
voted  a  sum,  equal  to  a  year's  rate  of  the  whole  colony,  toward 
the  erection  of  this  college.  The  infant  institution  was  a  favorite. 
Connecticut  and  Plymouth,  and  the  towns  in  the  east,  contrib- 
uted little  offerings  to  promote  its  success.  The  gift  of  the  rent 
of  a  ferry  was  a  proof  of  the  care  of  the  state  ;  and  once  at  least, 
every  family  in  each  of  the  colonies  gave  to  the  college  at  Cam- 
bridge twelve-pence,  or  a  peck  of  corn,  or  its  value  in  unadulter- 
ated Wjampumpeag,*  while  the  magistrates  and  wealthier  men 
were  profuse  in  their  liberality.  The  college,  in  return,  exerted 
a  powerful  influence  in  forming  the  early  character  of  the  coun- 
try. As  soon  as  this  institution  was  fairly  in  operation,  provision 
was  made,  by  the  allotment  of  land,  local  assessment,  and  other- 
wise, for  elementary  schools  ;  "  it  being  one  chief  project  of  that 
old  deluder  Satan,"  says  the  preamble  to  this  venerable  law,  "  to 
keep  men  from  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  as  in  former 
times  keeping  them  in  an  unknown  tongue ;  so  in  these  latter 
times,  by  persuading  men  from  the  use  of  tongues,  so  that  at  least 
the  true  sense  and  meaning  of  the  original  might  be  clouded  with 
false  glosses  of  saint-seeming  deceivers,  and  that  learning  may 
not  be  buried  in  the  graves  of  our  fathers." 

It  was  ordered  in  all  the  Puritan  colonies,  "  that  every  town- 

*  Wampnm  was  considered  as  the  Indian  money,  one  fathom  was  worth  five 
shillings.  Their  white  money  they  called  wampum,  which  signified  white ; 
their  black  suckawhock  suki,  signifying  black.  A  traveler  thus  describes  it : 
"In  my  way  I  had  opportunity  of  seeing  the  method  of  making  wampum.  It 
is  made  of  clam-shell,  containing  within  two  colors,  purple  and  white,  and  in  form 
not  unlike  a  thick  oyster-shell.  The  process  of  manufacturing  it  is  very  simple. 
It  is  just  clipped  to  a  proper  size,  which  is  of  a  small  oblong  parallelepiped,  theu 
dulled,  and  afterward  ground  to  a  round  smooth  surface  and  polished.  The  pur- 
ple wampum  is  much  more  valuable  than  the  white,  a  very  small  part  of  tha 
shell  being  that  color. —  Thatcher's  History  of  Plymouth. 


192  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

ship,  after  the  Lord  kad  increased  them  to  the  number  of  fifty 
householders,  shall  appoint  one  to  teach  all  children  to  write  and 
read ;  and  where  any  town  shall  increase  to  one  hundred  families, 
they  shall  set  up  a  grammar-school,  the  masters  thereof  being 
able  to  instruct  youth  so  far  as  they  may  be  fitted  for  the  Uni- 
versity." The  joint  operations  of  both  gave  a  pre-eminence  to 
the  people  of  Massachusetts,  which  they  maintain  to  this  day. 
At  a  later  period,  this  laudable  example  was  followed  in  almost 
every  part  of  the  country,  now  called  the  United  States  ;  and  in 
no  respect  is  their  wisdom  more  conspicuous  than  in  thus  follow- 
ing the  example  of  their  forefathers. 

Here  it  may  be  both  convenient  and  useful  to  pause,  and  com- 
pare the  Constitution  of  the  first  New  England  Republics,  and 
that  of  the  great  Federal  Government  of  the  present  day.  The 
introduction  of  democracy  was  the  work  of  the  Puritans.  It 
went  infinitely  further  than  that  of  the  revolutionists.  The  lat- 
ter was  conservative.  The  admirable  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  is  less  simple  in  its  structure,  but  safer  in  its  operation ; 
less  democratic  in  its  form,  but  confers  and  insures  more  freedom, 
and  is  better  provided  with  appropriate  checks  to  guard  the 
independence  of  the  people,  and  protect  it  from  its  own  excess. 
It  echoes  public  sentiment,  but  the  tone  is  subdued  and  softened 
by  repetition.  The  unmistakable  voice  of  the  people  is  heard ; 
but  the  medium  through  which  it  passes,  mitigates  its  overpow- 
ering sound,  and  it  is  so  modified  that  it  can  be  distinguished 
with  ease,  and  listened  to  with  safety.  The  statesmen  who  drew 
up  that  master-piece  of  wisdom,  were,  however,  greatly  indebted 
to  their  ancestors,  for  exhibiting  to  them  their  imperfect  experi- 
ment in  self-government,  for  all  or  the  greater  part  of  their  in- 
stitutions may  be  traced  to  those  of  the  first  settlers.  Universal 
suffrage,  annual  parliaments,  and  yearly  governors,  are  more 
democratical  than  the  practical,  rational,  and  enlightened  de- 
scendants of  the  New  Englanders  thought  conducive  to  the  de- 
liberative character  of  Congress,  or  compatible  with  the  peace  and 
harmony  of  the  people. 

The  first  idea  of  a  Congress  was  suggested,  as  we  have  seen, 
by  the  Confederation  of  the  united  colonies  of  New  England, 
which  was  in  existence  for  about  forty  years.  It  consisted  of 
delegates  from  the  associated  provinces,  formed  but  one  assembly, 
and  was  presided  over  by  one  of  their  number,  chosen  by  them 


THE    ENGLISH    IN'AMERICA.  193 

selves.  With  the  records  of  this  body  before  them,  and  a  Legis- 
lature in  the  old  Puritan  plantations,  consisting  of  a  Governor, 
Assistants,  or  Second  House,  and  an  Assembly,  all  chosen  annually, 
it  is  natural  that  they  should  adopt  one  or  the  other  as  their 
model.  Perceiving  the  defects  of  each,  they  blended  the  best 
parts  of  both,  and  made  such  improvements  as  were  necessary. 
It  was  for  the  wisdom  of  these  additions,  not  the  invention,  that 
they  are  entitled  to  the  gratitude  of  their  countrymen,  and  the 
admiration  of  mankind. 

The  governor,  when  elective  in  the  old  colonies,  was  chosen 
directly  by  the  people.  The  framers  of  the  Constitution  adopted 
the  principle  of  popular  choice  ;  but  to  avoid  danger,  vested  it  in 
electors  chosen  by  the  inhabitants,  under  the  direction  of  each 
State.  A  very  wise  and  salutary  measure.  This  body  is  again 
secured  against  corruption  by  being  chosen  only  within  thirty- 
four  days  of  the  election.  In  the  old  provinces,  the  governors 
were  annual  officers ;  but  they  had  no  foreign  policy  to  pursue, 
and  their  territorial  jurisdiction  was  small.  To  preserve  the 
principle  of  fresh  appeals  to  the  people,  and  at  the  same  time 
insure  consistency  in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  the  President's 
period  of  service  was  extended  to  four  years. 

In  New  England,  the  governors  were  often  constrained  to 
yield  to  the  House  of  Delegates,  because  they  had  the  power  to 
give,  increase,  diminish,  or  withhold  their  salary.  The  new  Con- 
stitution provides  that  he  shall  receive  a  stated  sum,  that  can  be 
neither  augmented  or  reduced  during  his  term  of  office.  To 
make  him  a  constituent  branch  of  the  legislature,  and  give  him 
a  voice  equally  potential  with  either  or  both  of  the  other  two 
chambers,  was  not  only  incompatible  with  their  ideas  of  equality, 
but  did  not  appear  to  be  demanded  by  any  indispensable  neces- 
sity. It  was  obvious,  however,  that  he  ought  to  possess  the 
means  of  defending  the  executive  department,  as  well  as  the  just 
balance  of  the  Constitution  against  usurpation.  He  was  there- 
fore invested  with  a  qualified  negative.  When  a  bill  has  passed 
both  Houses,  that  he  disapproves  of,  he  returns  it,  with  his  objec- 
tions, to  the  Chamber  in  which  it  originated.  If  both  Houses, 
after  reconsideration,  adhere  to  their  bill,  by  a  vote  in  each  of 
two-thirds  of  its  members,  it  then  becomes  law,  the  qualified 
veto  notwithstanding. 

In  the  old  compact  of  "  Confederation  of  the  United  Colonies," 

I 


194  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

under  the  first  republics  of  New  England,  we  have  seen  that 
there  was  but  one  Chamber,  as  now  subsists  in  France.  The 
experience  of  mankind*  has  unequivocally  condemned  the  prac- 
tice of  leaving  all  legislation  in  the  hands  of  any  one  unchecked 
body  of  men.  The  hasty  violence  and  constant  instability  of 
their  proceedings  have  ever  shown  that  they  are  unsafe  deposito- 
ries of  power.  Warned  by  the  failures  of  the  Italian  republics, 
which  were  all  thus  constituted,  and  having  before  them  the 
example  of  the  royal  provincial  governments,  in  which  there 
were  two  branches,  they  very  wisely  made  Congress  to  consist  of 
two  Chambers,  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives.  Based 
on  popular  election,  and  adhering  as  closely  as  possible  to  the 
principle  that  the  people  were  the  source  of  all  power,  the 
Senate  was  so  constructed  as  not  to  be  a  mere  duplicate  of  the 
Lower  Chamber.  It  consists  of  two  members  from  each  State, 
chosen,  not  by  the  people  at*  large,  but  by  the  legislature,  for  six 
years,  and,  by  an  admirable  arrangement,  one-third  vacate  their 
seats  biennially,  by  which  means  no  very  violent  or  sudden 
change  can  take  place,  and  a  large  number  of  experienced  men 
are  always  retained,  well  versed  in  the  policy  of  the  country,  and 
the  forms  of  the  House.  The  conduct,  dignity,  knowledge,  and 
authority  of  the  Senate  are  the  best  evidence  of  the  skill  of  those 
who  made  the  salutary  regulations  that  have  produced  this 
result. 

The  power  to  make  treaties  is  lodged  jointly  with  the  Pres- 
ident and  the  House.  Better  councilors  it  would  be  impossible 
to  select  for  him.  They  possess  the  advantage  of  being  easily 
assembled,  and  governed  by  steady,  systematic  views,  feel  a  due 
sense  of  national  character,  and  can  act  with  promptitude  and 
firmness. 

In  the  old  republic  all  officers  were  elective.  In  an  immense 
country  like  the  United  States,  it  was  obvious  that  to  have 
recourse  to  the  whole  people  on  every  occasion  of  a  vacancy,  if 
not  impracticable,  would  be  attended  with  ruinous  delay,  and 
greatly  embarrass  public  business.  The  difficulty  lay  in  know- 
ing to  whom  to  give  this  vast  patronage.  To  place  it  in  the 
hands  of  the  President  alone,  would  necessarily  give  him  the 
means  of  corruption  ;  to  intrust  it  to  the  Senate,  would  render 

*  See  Adams's  Defense  of  the  American  Constitution,  vol.  III.  p.  502.  Alio 
Kent's  Commentaries. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  195 

him  contemptible,  as  he  could  have  no  voice  in  the  selection  of 
those  officers,  for  the  performance  of  whose  duties,  as  the  head 
of  the  executive,  he  was  responsible.  They  obviated  both  objec- 
tions, by  giving  him  the  sole  power  of  nomination,  and  the  right 
of  approval  or  rejection  to  the  Senate.  Nomination  is,  for  all 
practical  purposes,  equivalent  to  appointment ;  but  the  revision 
to  which  it  is  subject  imposes  on  the  President  the  necessity  of 
avoiding  favoritism,  intrigue,  and  a  careless  use  of  patronage. 

In  no  case,  perhaps,  is  the  advantage  of  this  system  more  per- 
ceptible than  in  the  judiciary  of  the  United  States.  It  is  impos- 
sible to  conceive  a  more  admirable  mode  of  selecting  judges. 
In  England  the  appointment  rests  with  the  minister  of  the  day, 
and  the  choice  is  not  always  such  as  meets  the  approbation  of 
the  bar  or  the  public.  In  Canada  the  general  rule  used  to  be, 
cceteris  paribus,  that  the  senior  member  of  the  profession'  was 
held  to  possess  the  best  claim  to  preferment.  Even  that  mode 
is  open  to  serious  objections,  but  the  present  practice  is  beyond 
comparison  the  worst  to  be  found  in  any  country.  A  seat  on  the 
bench  is  now  a  political  prize,  and  the  dominant  party  claims  it 
for  partisans.  None  of  those  high  qualifications  so  essential  to 
the  efficient  and  respectable  discharge  of  judicial  duties,  neither 
talent,  learning,  nor  integrity  are  recommendations  equal  to  polit- 
ical services.  High  and  honorable  as  the  office  of  judge  is  in , 
England,  it  is  infinitely  more  so  in  the  Great  Republic.  The 
commission  is  awarded  neither  by  the  personal  friendship  nor! 
political  sympathy  of  the  President,  but  by  the  deliberate  choic 
of  that  officer  and  the  concurrence  and  approbation  of  all  the 
States  in  the  Union,  as  expressed  by  the  collective  voice  of  theij 
SenatorSj  Well  may  that  country  be  proud  of  its  judiciary,  wheij 
so  constructed  ;  and  the  judges  of  an  appointment  that  rest; 
solely  on  great  abilities,  undoubted  rectitude  of  condnct,  anfl 
universal  respect. 

The  House  of  Representatives  is  composed  of  delegates  of  the 
several  States.  In  the  old  republic  the  elections  were  annual ; 
an  improvement  has  been  made  in  the  new  by  extending  tlae 
term  to  two  years ;  a  period  which  the  best  informed  men  in  the 
country  think  still  too  short.  As  this  is  called  the  popular 
branch,  its  members  being  chosen  directly  by  the  people,  while 
the  Senate  is  the  result  of  a  double  election,  and  less  under  their 
immediate  control,  it  possesses  the  exclusive  right  of  originating 


196  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

all  bills  for  raising  revenue,  which  is  the  only  privilege  it  enjoys 
in  its  legislative  character  not  participated  in  by  the  Senate,  and 
even  money-bills  can  be  amended  by  them.  The  two  Houses 
are  an  entire  and  perfect  check  upon  each  other,  and  one  of  them 
can  not  even  adjourn,  during  the  session  of  Congress,  for  more 
than  three  or  four  days,  without  the  consent  of  the  other,  nor  to 
any  other  place  than  that  in  which  both  shall  be  sitting.* 

It  is  not  within  the  scope  of  this  work  to  enter  more  at  large 
on  this  subject.  It  was  stated,  in  an  early  part  of  this  volume, 
that  republicanism  in  America  was  not  the  result  of  the  Revolu- 
tion, but  that  it  existed  there  from  its  first  settlement.  The 
whole  of  this  historical  narrative  clearly  proves  that  assertion. 
It  was  subsequently  said,  that  in  its  original  form  it  was  infin- 
itely more  democratic  than  the  present  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  ;  and  to  illustrate  that  position  I  have  drawn  up  the  fore- 
going brief  comparison  of  the  leading  features  of  each.  In  the 
course  of  our  examination,  succinct  as  it  necessarily  must  be, 
enough  appears  to  exhibit  the  delicate  skill,  consummate  knowl- 
edge, enlarged  views,  and  patriotism  of  the  statesmen  who 
framed  the  Federal  Constitution.  Nothing  by  any  possibility 
could  be  devised  more  suited  to  the  situation,  feelings,  wants, 
habits,  and  preconceived  opinions  of  the  people.  It  has  conferred 
happiness  and  safety  on  many  millions  :  may  it  ever  continue  to 
do  BO.  Esto  perpetuo. 

*  See  Kent's  Commentaries,  vol.  L  p.  283. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

DEMOCRATIC    FORM    OF    CHURCH   GOVERNMENT. ITS   EFFECT    ON 

POLITICAL    OPINIONS. 

Different  Course  pursued  by  the  Church  and  Dissenters  at  the  Reformation — 
Difference  between  Presbyterians,  Independents,  and  Puritans — Three  kinds 
of  Puritans — Their  Doctrines  and  Form  of  Ecclesiastical  Government — Sin- 
gular Valedictory  Address  of  the  Puritans  to  the  Members  of  the  Church  of 
England  —  Extraordinary  Union  of  Church  and  State  among  the  former — 
Cause  of  present  political  Unity  of  Action  between  Dissenters  and  Romanists. 

WHILE  the  people  on  the  continent  of  Europe  were  engaged 
iti  the  work  of  reformation,  the  Church  of  England,  with  equal 
zeal  and  more  discretion,  set  herself  about  the  great  task  of 
restoration.  She  had  never  voluntarily  submitted  to  Rome,  nor 
fully  admitted  her  authority  over  her.  She  had  been  previously 
encroached  upon  from  time  to  time,  owing  to  the  imbecility  or 
contentions  of  her  princes,  but  had  never  failed  either  to  resist  or 
protest,  to  assert  her  exclusive  jurisdiction,  or  to  claim  the  exer- 
cise of  her  ancient  usages. 

If  not  anterior  to  that  of  Rome,  the  Anglican  Church  was  at 
least  coeval  with  it,  being  founded,  as  there  is  substantial  ground 
for  believing,  by  one  of  the  Apostles.  At  a  very  early  date,  it 
had  its  orders  of  bishops,  priests,  and  deacons,  and  subsisted,  as 
independent  in  its  action  as  it  was  isolated  in  position,  for  a 
period  of  nearly  six  hundred  years,  before  the  grasping  and  aspir- 
ing spirit  of  Rome  attempted  to  seduce  or  force  it  into  an  ac- 
knowledgment of  her  supremacy.  At  the  close  of  the  sixth 
century,  about  the  year  596,  Gregory  I.  sent  Augustine  the 
monk  to  demand  the  submission  of  the  English  prelates,  who, 
with  their  flocks,  had  gradually  been  driven  westward  by  the 
barbarians  that  had  invaded  the  island ;  and  as  these  successful 
emigrants  were  heathens,  he  was  at  the  same  time  instructed  to 
Christianize  them,  if  possible.  In  the  first  object  of  his  mission 
he  wholly  failed,  having  received  a  decided  refusal  from  the  seven 
bishops,  who  assembled  in  Worcestershire  to  hear  his  proposition. 
In  the  latter  (the  conversion  of  the  conquerors)  he  was  more  sue- 


19S  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

cessful,  and  immediately  assumed  jurisdiction  over  his  proselytes. 
The  Papal  power  having  thus  obtained  a  footing,  never  after- 
ward ceased  its  endeavors  to  enlarge  it  upon  every  practicable 
occasion,  or  plausible  pretense.* 

To  shake  off  the  errors  and  corruptions  of  Romanism,  and  pre- 
serve what  was  sanctioned  by  the  usage  of  the  apostolic  age,  was 
a  work  of  great  labor,  and  at  the  same  time  great  delicacy.  The 
task  of  the  Church,  unlike  that  of  the  impetuous  and  headstrong 
body  of  innovators  who  called  themselves  Protestant  Reformers, 
was  not  to  pull  down  and  reconstruct,  but  thoroughly  to  repair 
and  completely  restore  the  ancient  edifice  in  all  its  beauty,  sim- 
plicity, and  proportion.  Nobly  was  this  arduous  and  important 
duty  performed.  Search  was  made  for  the  forms  of  the  olden 
time,  before  the  irruption  of  the  Roman  priesthood ;  for  the 
prayers  in  all  the  ancient  sees  were  not  alike,  as  each  bishop  had, 
according  to  primitive  custom,  the  power  of  regulating  the  litur- 
gy of  his  own  diocese.  From  these  authentic  sources  was  com- 
piled with  great  labor  and  infinite  patience  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  which  has  extorted  from  one  of  the  most  learned  and 
eminent  Dissenting  divines  of  this  century  this  extraordinary 
eulogium  :  "  That  it  is  by  far  the  greatest  uninspired  work 
extant."! 

Romanists  themselves,  when  permitted  to  exercise  an  inde- 
pendent judgment,  admitted  its  unexceptionable  character  and 
great  beauty,  and  joined  in  its  use  for  more  than  twelve  years. 
Two  of  the  Popes,  Paul  and  Pius  IV.,  went  so  far  as  to  offer  to 
sanction  it  if  Queen  Elizabeth  would  acknowledge  the  suprem- 
acy of  the  Pope.  Upon  her  refusal  she  was  excommunicated,  in 
1569,  and  from  that  period  British  Papists  became  schismatics. 

The  English  Dissenting  Reformers,  though  not  so  ignorant  as 
those  of  the  Continent,  were,  with  some  distinguished  exceptions, 
in  general  violent  and  vulgar  fanatics.  They  were  but  little 
acquainted  with  the  history  or  antiquity  of  their  own  primitive 
church,  and  cared  still  less  about  it ;  all  they  knew  was,  that 
even  when  purified  and  restored,  it  still  resembled  that  of  R,ome 
too  much  to  please  them.  As  they  had  rejected  the  Pontiff,  they 
saw  no  reason  to  obey  a  bishop  ;  and  it  was  obvious  to  the  mean- 
est capacity,  that  if  the  regular  clergy  were  abolished,  tithes 

•  Bennet  on  Common  Prayer.    Theophilas  Anglicanns.  f  Hall. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  199 

would  necessarily  cease  also.  So  convenient  and  so  unscrupulous 
a  party  were  soon  seized  upon  by  politicians  to  advance  their 
own  ends.  They  were  told  then,  as  their  descendants  are  in- 
formed to  this  day,  by  the  leading  Liberals  of  England,  who 
view  with  no  friendly  eye  such  a  Conservative  body  as  the 
Church,  that  it  was  the  child  of  the  Reformation,  the  offspring 
of  chance,  and  the  result  of  a  compromise  between  royal  prerog- 
ative, Papal  pretension,  and  popular  rights  ;  that  it  had  neither 
the  antiquity  of  the  old,  nor  the  purity  of  the  new  faith ;  and 
that  it  was  behind  the  enlightenment  of  the  age.  In  fact,  it  was 
stigmatized  as  deriving  its  origin  from  no  higher  authority  than 
an  Act  of  Parliament.  Macaulay  has  lent  his  aid  to  perpetuate 
this  delusion,  and  the  innovating  propensities  of  the  Whigs  may 
well  be  imagined  from  the  fact,  that  even  history  is  not  safe  in 
the  hands  of  a  reformer. 

As  this  dissentient  body,  at  a  subsequent  period,  furnished  the 
pioneers  who  settled  in  New  England,  it  is  necessary  to  take  a 
cursory  view  of  their  position,  divisions,  and  political  and  relig- 
ious principles,  that  we  may  understand  the  character  and  tem- 
per of  the  people  we  have  been  treating  of. 

There  were  at  that  time  three  great  parties  of  Nonconformists 
in  the  parent  country — the  Presbyterians,  the  Independents,  and 
the  Puritans.  There  were  some  points  in  which  they  all'  agreed, 
but  there  was  a  broad  line  of  distinction  among  them  in  others. 
They  concurred  in  a  thorough  hatred  of  Popery  and  prelacy, 
which  they  affected  to  consider  nearly  synonymous  terms,  and 
united  in  a  desire  to  restrain  the  regal  authority,  but  different  iu 
degree.  The  Presbyterians,  from  the  habit  of  mingling  politics 
with  their  religious  discourses,  often  gave  vent  to  violent  and 
seditious  language.  A  preacher  at  St.  Andrews,  called  mon- 
archs  "  Beelzebub's  children,"  and  not  long  after,  another  at 
Edinburgh,  said  the  king  had  been  possessed  of  a  devil,  and  that 
one  being  expelled,  seven  more  fierce  and  unclean  had  entered  in 
his  place,  and  wound  up  by  declaring  that  the  people  might  law- 
fully use  and  take  the  sword  out  of  his  hand.  But,  notwith- 
standing these  ebullitions  of  vulgar  abuse  and  priestly  insolence, 
the  party  in  general,  both  in  England  and  Scotland,  were  de- 
sirous of  going  no  further  than  reducing  the  king  to  the  simple 
station  of  first  magistrate. 

The  Independents  wished  to  abolish  the  monarchy  altogether, 


200  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

as  well  as  the  aristocratic  order,  and  projected  an  entire  equality 
of  rank,  and  the  establishment  of  a  free  and  independent  republic. 
At  the  same  time  they  differed  from  the  other  two  in  upholding 
toleration ;  and  it  has  often  been  remarked  as  a  singular  fact, 
that  so  rational  a  doctrine  did  not  emanate  from  reason,  but  from 
the  height  of  extravagance  and  fanaticism.*  They  neglected  all 
ecclesiastical  establishments,  and  would  admit  of  no  spiritual 
courts,  no  government  among  pastors,  no  interposition  of  the 
magistrate  in  religious  concerns,  and  no  fixed  encouragement 
annexed  to  any  system  of  doctrines  or  opinions.  According  to 
their  principles,  each  congregation,  united  voluntarily  and  by 
spiritual  ties,  composed  within  itself  a  separate  church,  and  exer- 
cised a  jurisdiction  destitute  of  temporal  sanctions  over  its  own 
pastor  and  its  own  members.  The  election  alone  was  sufficient 
to  bestow  the  sacredotal  character ;  and  as  all  essential  distinc- 
tions were  denied  between  the  laity  and  the  clergy,  no  ceremony, 
no  institution,  no  vocation,  and  no  imposition  of  hands  was,  as  in 
all  other  Churches,  supposed  requisite  to  convey  a  right  to  holy 
orders.  The  enthusiasm  of  the  Presbyterians  led  them  to  reject 
the  authority  of  prelates,  to  throw  off  the  restraint  of  liturgies, 
to  retrench  ceremonies,  to  limit  the  riches  and  power  of  the 
priestly  office.  The  fanaticism  of  the  Independents,  exalted  to  a 
higher  pitch,  abolished  ecclesiastical  government,  disdained  creeds 
and  systems,  neglected  every  pre-existing  form,  and  confounded 
all  ranks  and  orders.  The  soldier,  the  merchant,  the  mechanic, 
indulging  the  fervors  of  zeal,  and  guided  by  the  impulse  of  the 
spirit,  resigned  himself  to  an  inward  and  superior  direction,  and 
was  consecrated,  in  a  manner,  by  an  immediate  intercourse  and 
communication  with  Heaven. 

The  Puritans  again,  were  divided  into  three  classes,  which, 
though  commonly  united,  were  yet  actuated  by  different  views 
and  motives.t  First,  There  were  the  political  Puritans,  who 
maintained  the  highest  principles  of  civil  liberty.  Secondly, 
the  Puritans  in  discipline,  who  were  averse  to  the  ceremonies 
and  episcopal  government  of  the  Church.  Thirdly,  the  doctrinal 
party,  who  rigidly  defended  the  speculative  system  of  the  first 
reformers.  These  subdivisions  are  not  very  intelligible  nor  inter- 
esting to  the  general  reader,  and  subsequent  events  have  rendered 

*  Hume.  t  See  Ned's  History  of  the  Puritans 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  201 

them  of  less  importance.*  The  despised  and  persecuted  Episco- 
pal Church  of  England  has,  by  the  blessing  of  God,  taken  deep 
root  in  America  •,  the  uniformity  of  its  practice,  the  simplicity 
and  beauty  of  its  ceremonies,  the  fixed  and  established  princi- 
ples of  its  creeds  and  doctrines,  have  survived  the  factious  or 
prejudiced  sects  that  opposed  it ;  many  of  whose  adherents,  have 
at  last  found  shelter  and  repose  in  its  bosom  from  the  doubts, 
contentions,  and  schisms  in  which  they  had  been  involved.  The 
rest  have  changed  with  the  mutations  of  times ;  for  dissent  car- 
ries within  it  the  seeds  of  its  own  dissolution.  The  Puritans 
have  declined  into  Unitarians.  The  Presbyterians  of  the  States 
are  becoming  Anabaptists,  Socinians,  or  Churchmen,  more  than 
three  hundred  of  their  clergy  having  recently  sought  episcopal 
ordination  ;  while  toleration  or  neglect,  fashion,  or  ridicule,  have 
nearly  vanquished  the  Quakers.  The  Baptists  again  have  sepa- 
rated into  an  endless  variety  of  sects. f  It  is  not  very  probable 
that  the  Puritans  of  Massachusetts  had  agreed  upon  their  form 
of  ecclesiastical  government  before  they  left  England ;  but  they 
concurred  in  their  dislike  to  the  ceremonies  and  doctrines  of  the 
Church.  Their  last  act,  when  embarked  and  ready  for  sea,  was 

*  See  Hume,  from  whom  these  distinctions  have  been  freely  extracted. 

t  They  are  thus  described  by  a  recent  traveler  in  the  "Western  States.  He 
informs  us,  '•  that  he  saw  on  one  occasion  about  a  thousand  men  and  women  in 
a  grove,  rolling  hoops,  flying  kites,  playing  ball,  shooting  marbles,  leaping,  run- 
ning, wrestling,  boxing,  rolling  and  tumbling  in  the  grass ;  the  women  caress- 
ing dolls,  and  the  men  astride  of  sticks  for  horses,  and  the  whole  company  in- 
tently engaged  in  all  the  sports  of  childhood.  At  last  he  ventured  to  ask  what 
it  meant.  They  told  him  they  professed  to  be  little  children,  to  whom  the 
Lord  had  promised  his  kingdom,  and  affected  some  surprise  that  he  seemed 
not  to  have  known  that  it  was  written,  '  Except  ye  be  converted,  and  become 
as  little  children,  ye  shall  in  no  case  enter  the  Kingdom  of  God.'  He  told  them 
that  that  was  true ;  that  it  was  very  well  to  imitate  the  virtues  of  infancy,  but 
not  its  foibles ;  that  the  Apostle  had  said :  '  In  malice  be  ye  children,  but  in 
understanding  be  men ;'  and  this  extraordinary  conduct  was  the  folly  of  child- 
hood, without  its  immaturity  to  excuse  it.  '  We  are  not  at  all  surprised  that 
you  think  so,'  they  replied, '  for  we  are  a  reproach  unto  our  neighbors,  and  they 
of  our  acquaintance  do  hide  themselves  from  us ;  but  we  are  willing  to  suffer 
persecution  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven's  sake  ;  for  these  things  are  hidden,  as 
it  is  written,  from  the  wise  and  prudent,  and  are  revealed  unto  babes.'  " 

The  reader  may  see  in  the  histories  of  the  Reformation,  and  even  in  D'Aubig- 
ne  himself,  that  this  sect  is  the  genuine  successor  of  the  original  Baptist  body 
in  Germany,  Switzerland,  and  England,  who  ran  many  of  them  naked,  in  the 
pretended  innocence  of  childhood,  vociferating  through  the  streets,  rolling  and 
tumbling,  and  affecting  all  the  sports  of  children,  believing  that  the  truth  is  re- 
vealed by  the  Spirit  to  babes ;  throwing  the  word  of  God  into  the  fire,  exclaim- 
ing, says  D'Aubigne,  "  that  the  letter  killeth,  but  the  spirit  giveth  life." 

I* 


202  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

to  send  the  following  circular  to  the  clergy  of  the  Established 
Church.  It  is  a  long  document ;  but  it  is  such  a  remarkable 
piece  of  insincerity,  that  it  is  impossible  to  rise  from  its  perusal, 
without  feeling  that  it  justified  all  the  doubts  that  were  subse- 
quently entertained  of  their  attachment  to  the  parent  state. 
The  only  way  that  it  can  be  accounted  for  is,  by  supposing 
either  that  they  were  laboring  under  conscious  terror  at  the 
breach  of  faith  they  had  committed,  in  surreptitiously  removing 
the  charter  to  America,  and  feared  that  they  might  be  pursued 
and  punished,  or  that  they  dreaded,  from  the  size  of  the  fleet, 
and  the  number  of  emigrants,  if  they  were  constrained,  by  stress 
of  weather,  to  put  back  into  an  English  port,  they  might  be  pre- 
vented from  withdrawing  from  the  kingdom  ;  but  neither  expe- 
diency on  the  one  hand,  nor  apprehension  from  danger  on  the 

other,  ofler  any  palliation  for  such  a  wide  departure  from  the  truth  : 

• 

"  The  humble  request  of  his  Majesty's  loyal  subjects,  the  gov- 
ernor and  company  late  gone  for  New  England,  to  the  rest  of 
their  brethren  in  and  of  the  Church  of  England. 

"  REVEREND  FATHERS  AND  BRETHREN — The  generall  rumour 
of  this  solemne  enterprise,  wherein  ourselves  and  others,  through 
the  providence  of  the  Almightie,  are  engaged,  as  it  may  spare  us 
the  labour  of  imparting  our  occasion  unto  you,  so  it  gives  us  the 
more  encouragement  to  strengthen  ourselves  by  the  procurement 
of  the  prayers  and  blessings  of  the  Lord's  faithful  servants.  For 
which  end  we  are  bold  to  have  recourse  unto  you,  as  those  whom 
God  hath  placed  nearest  his  throne  of  Mercy ;  which,  as  it 
affords  you  the  more  opportunity,  so  it  imposeth  the  greater  bond 
upon  you  to  intercede  for  his  people  in  all  their  straights.  We 
beseech  you,  therefore,  by  the  mercies  of  the  Lord  Jesus,  to  con- 
sider us  as  your  brethern,  standing  in  very  great  need  of  your 
helpe,  and  earnestly  imploring  it.  And  howsoever  your  charac- 
ter may  have  met  with  some  occasion  of  discouragement,  through 
the  misreport  of  our  intentions,  or  through  the  disaffection,  or 
indiscretion  of  some  of  us,  or  rather  amongst  us,  for  we  are  not 
of  those  who  dreame  of  perfection  in  this  world,  yet  we  desire  you 
would  be  pleased  to  take  notice  of  the  principles  and  body  of  our 
company  as  those  who  esteeme  it  an  Iwnour  to  call  the  Church 
of  England  from  whence  we  rise,  our  deare  Mother,  and  can  not 
part  from  our  native  countrie,  where  she  specially  resideth,  with- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  203 

out  much  sadness  of  heart,  and  many  tears  in  our  eyes,  ever 
acknowledging  that  such  hope  and  part  as  we  have  obtained  in 
the  common  salvation,  we  have  received  in  her  bosome,  and  suckt 
it  from  her  breast.  We  leave  it  not,  therefore,  as  loathing  that 
milk  wherewith  we  were  nourished  then,  but  blessing  God  for  the 
parentage  and  education,  as  members  of  the  same  body,  and  shall 
always  rejoice  in  her  good,  and  unfainedly  grieve  for  any  sorrow 
that  shall  ever  betide  her,  and  while  we  have  breath,  syncerely 
desire  and  indear  over  the  continuance  and  abundance  of  her 
welfare,  with  the  enlargement  of  her  bounds  in  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ  Jesus. 

"Be  pleased,  therefore,  Reverend  Fathers  and  Brethren,  to 
helpe  forward  this  worke  now  in  hand,  which  if  it  prosper,  you 
shall  be  more  glorious,  howsoever  your  judgment  is  with  the 
Lord,  and  your  reward  with  your  God.  It  is  an  usual  and  laud- 
able exercise  of  your  charity  to  recommend  to  the  prayers  of 
your  congregation  the  necessities  and  straights  of  your  private 
neighbours.  Doe  the  like  for  a  Church  springing  out  of  your 
own  bowels.  What  we  intreat  of  you,  that  are  the  ministers  of 
God,  that  we  crave  at  the  hands  of  all  the  rest  of  our  brethren, 
that  they  would  at  no  time  forget  us  in  their  private  solicitationa 
at  the  throne  of  Grace.  And  so  commending  you  to  the  Grace 
of  God  in  Christ,  we  shall  ever  rest, 

Your  assured  friends  and  brethren,* 

JO.  WlNTHORPE,  Gov. 

and  others. 

"  From  Yarmouth, 
"Aboard  the  'Arabella,' 
"  April  7tb,  1630." 

Notwithstanding  the  affectionate  language  of  this  valedictory 
address,  it  appears  that  they  knew  what  measures  had  been 
adopted  by  the  first  portion  of  the  adventurers,  under  their  agent 
Endicot,  for  establishing  Congregationalism  at  Salem,  and  were 
fully  informed  of  what  the  inhabitants  of  Plymouth  had  done. 
In  one  short  month  after  their  arrival,  they  commenced  to  lay 
the  foundation  of  a  "Church,  as  dissimilar  as  possible  from  that  to 
which  they  had  so  recently  called  God  to  witness  they  were  so 
warmly  attached.  Subsequently  their  principles  were  formally 

*  Some  portion  of  the  address,  imploring  the  prayers  of  their  dear  brethren, 
is  omitted. 


204  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

developed  and  were  distinguished  by  Mr.  Cotton,  their  leading 
divine,  at  Boston. 

First.  The  subject  matter  of  the  visible  Church,  viz.,  saints  by 
calling.  Such  as  are  acquainted  with  the  principles  of  religion, 
and  who  profess  their  faith,  and  the  manner  how  they  were 
brought  to  the  knowledge  of  God,  by  faith  in  Christ,  either  viva 
voce,  or  else  by  a  public  declaration  thereof,  made  by  the  elders, 
as  it  has  been  delivered  to  them  in  private,  although  if  such  pro- 
fession be  scandalized  by  an  unchristian  conversation,  it  is  not  to 
be  regarded.  Secondly.  The  constitutive  part  of  a  particular 
visible  Church  ought  to  be  a  re- stipulation  or  natural  covenantry 
to  walk  together  in  their  Christian  communion,  according  to  the 
rule  of  the  Gospel.  Thirdly.  No  Church  ought  to  be  of  a  larger 
extent,  or  greater  number,  than  may  ordinarily  meet  together  in 
one  place,  for  the  enjoyment  of  all  the  same  numerical  ordinances 
and  celebrating  divine  worship,  nor  fewer  ordinarily,  than  may 
carry  on  Church  work.  Fourthly.  That  there  is  no  jurisdiction 
to  which  particular  Churches  are  or  ought  to  be  subject,  by  way 
of  authoritative  censure,  nor  to  any  other  Church  power,  extrin- 
sical to  such  Churches,  which  they  ought  to  depend  upon  any 
other  sort  of  men  for  the  exercise  of. 

By  the  three  first  of  these  fundamental  doctrines  voluntary 
combination  was  established  as  the  principle  of  action ;  by  the 
last  total  independence  of  the  English,  or  any  other  ecclesiastical 
establishment, -was  secured.  When  a  sufficient  number  of  per- 
sons were  gathered  together,  they  of  their  own  free  will  and 
accord  combined,  and  formed  a  church,  and  by  a  majority  of  votes 
elected  and  in  the  same  way  dismissed  their  minister.  There 
were  regularly  two  pastors  to  each  congregation ;  a  teacher  "  to 
minister  a  word  of  knowledge,"  and  another  "  to  minister  a  word 
of  wisdom,"  a  distinction  which  soon  terminated  in  the  appoint- 
ment of  one  only,  who  was  supported  in  some  places  by  volunta- 
ry offerings,  and  in  others  by  rates  ;  which  latter  was  subsequent- 
ly adopted  and  finally  enforced  by  law.  They  were  sometimes 
designated  as  "  teaching  elders"  to  distinguish  them  from  "ruling 
elders."  The  latter  were,  "  ancient,  godly,  experienced  Christians, 
of  lion-like  courage  when  the  sound  and  wholesome  doctrinea 
declared  by  pastor  or  teacher  are  spoken  against  by  any  one." 
"  There  were  also  deacons,"  "  plain-dealing  men  endowed  with 
wi"4om  from  above  to  manage  the  Church  treasury." 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  206 

The  synods  were  recognized  as  merely  auxiliary  bodies  of 
advice ;  but  were  not  allowed  to  exercise  any  authority  or  juris- 
diction over  particular  churches,  nor  pronounce  censures  or  enforce 
discipline.  They  were  said  to  be  in  their  own  language,  "  con- 
sultative, decisive  and  declarative,  but  not  co-active,"  and  the 
union  of  lay  and  and  church  members  was  thought  to  be  typified 
by  Moses  and  Aaron  meeting  on  the  Mount  and  kissing  each 
other.  A  miracle  (which  they  ridiculed  when  claimed  by  Ro- 
manists), attested  the  divine  approbation  of  such  institutions. 
On  one  occasion,  when  they  were  all  assembled,  a  snake  suddenly 
appeared  near  the  seat  occupied  by  the  Elders.  Many  of  them 
shifted  from  it,  but  Mr.  Thompson,  of  Braintree,  "  a  man  of 
much  faith,"  trod  upon  its  head,  and  so  held  it  with  foot  and 
staff  till  it  was  killed.  "This  being  so  remarkable,"  says  Win- 
throp,  "  and  nothing  falling  but  by  Divine  Providence,  it  is  out 
of  doubt,  the  Lord  discovered  somewhat  of  his  mind  in  it.  The 
serpent  is  the  Devil,  the  synod  the  representative  of  the  Churches 
of  Christ  in  New  England.  The  Devil  had  formerly  and  lately 
attempted  their  disturbance  and  dissolution ;  but  their  faith  in 
the  seed  of  the  woman,  overcame  him,  and  crushed  his  head." 
But  although  both  the  civil  and  religious  bodies  severally  dis- 
claimed all  control  over  each  other,  they  soon  found  it  convenient 
to  give  and  receive  mutual  assistance.  As  both  belonged  to  the 
same  Church,  this  reciprocal  accommodation,  it  was  thought, 
would  be  attended  with  little  or  no  danger;  while  each  in  its 
turn  derived  additional  weight  from  the  interchange  of  protec- 
tion. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  pursue  this  subject  into  detail.  Suffi- 
cient has  been  said  to  show  that  Church  and  State  were  based  on 
republican  principles.  The  intimate  connection  subsisting  be- 
tween the  form  of  an  ecclesiastical  establishment,  and  the  political 
opinions  of  its  members,  is  manifest  to  all  those  acquainted  with 
the  practical  working  of  elective  institutions.  In  England,  Dis- 
senters almost  universally  support  the  Whigs,  not  from  love  or 
respect,  but  because  they  are  less  disposed  than  the  Tories  to  up- 
hold the  Church;  and  are  more  pliable  and  latitudinarian.  In 
utter  ignorance  that  they  owe  their  safety  from  persecution,  and, 
indeed,  their  very  existence,  to  the  shelter  afforded  to  them  by 
the  Establishment  against  Popery,  they  idly  suppose  if  it  were 
prostrated,  they  would  be  advanced  both  in  power,  wealth,  and 


200  THE   ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

station.  In  like  manner  the  Romanists  also  coalesce  with  them  ; 
and  notwithstanding  the  present  outcry  about  Papal  aggression, 
will  continue  to  do  so,  not  only  on  similar  grounds,  but  on  a  cer- 
tain conviction,  that  if  the  Church  of  England  be  essentially 
crippled  by  the  State,  the  only  shield  to  Protestantism  in  Europe 
is  destroyed,  and  Popery  will  not  only  be  again  triumphant,  but 
universal. 

It  is  this  similarity  of  object  that  has  effected  a  political  union 
of  action  between  the  two  most  irreconcilable  and  impracticable 
bodies  in  the  world.  In  nothing,  perhaps,  is  the  knowledge, 
skill,  foresight,  and  untiring  perseverance  of  Rome,  or  the  igno- 
rance and  infatuation  of  Dissent,  more  conspicuous.  Nor  is  this 
remarkable  elective  sympathy  confined  to  England  :  it  is  exhibit- 
ed in  every  part  of  the  British  empire  where  constitutional  gov- 
ernment exists. 


BOOK  III. 


CHAPTER   I. 

Four  Great  Inter-colonial  Wars  occur  between  the  English  Revolution  of  1688 
and  the  Peace  of  1763 — Cause  of  the  military  Character  of  the  People — Extent 
of  the  French  Territory — Their  Claims  to  extend  their  Boundaries — Form  of 
Government  in  Canada — They  fraternize  with  the  Indians — Count  Fronte- 
nac's  three  Predatory  Parties — Treaty  of  Ryswick — End  of  first  Inter- 
colonial War — Chief  Events  of  the  other  three  Wars — Canada  ceded  to 
Great  Britain  by  Treaty  of  1763. 

THE  period  that  elapsed  between  the  English  revolution  of  1688, 
and  the  peace  of  1763,  is  memorable  for  four  great  inter-colonial 
wars.  A  narrative  of  the  various  campaigns  is  better  suited  to  a 
general  history  of  America,  than  a  political  sketch  like  the  present. 
I  do  not  propose,  therefore,  to  enter  into  any  detailed  account  of 
them.  The  story  has  often  been  told,  and  whatever  interest  it 
may  once  have  possessed,  the  gigantic  struggles  in  which  Great 
Britain,  France,  and  America  have  been  subsequently  engaged, 
have  contributed  to  render  it  of  still  less  comparative  importance. 
I  would  gladly  pass  it  over  altogether,  but  some  reference  is  nec- 
essary, in  order  to  show  the  military  character  of  the  inhabitants, 
the  resources  of  the  colonies,  and  the  manner  in  which  the  people 
were  trained  to  the  use  of  arms,  inured  to  danger  and  hardship, 
and  accustomed  to  that  warfare  so  peculiar  to  a  country  but  par- 
tially cleared  of  the  forest.  It  was  this  long  continued  series  of 
contests  with  the  savage  tribes  of  the  northern  continent,  and  the 
disciplined  troops  of  France,  that  furnished  the  revolted  provinces 
with  able  and  experienced  officers,  converted  every  husbandman 
into  a  soldier,  and  enabled  them  subsequently  to  undertake  the 
bold  and  difficult  task  of  defending  themselves  against  the  armies 
and  fleets  of  England.  The  remaining  colonies  have  now  nearly 
the  same  population  as  those  that  revolted ;  but  the  people  have 
not  had  the  training  of  their  forefathers  ;  and,  bevond  all  doubt, 


208  THE  ENGLISH  IN  AMERICA. 

neither  they,  nor  the  present  race  of  Americans,  would  be  able, 
however  much  their  passions  might  be  enlisted,  to  exhibit  any  such 
progress,  to  sustain,  with  similar  steadiness,  the  shock  of  regular 
troops,  or  effect  the  same  extraordinary  results.  It  was  in  these 
campaigns  that  Washington,  and  the  majority  of  his  efficient 
officers,  took  their  first  lessons  in  the  art  of  war.  To  their  honor 
too  it  must  be  admitted,  that  most  of  the  creditable  achievements 
were  effected  by  the  provincials  alone,  or  when  only  slightly 
assisted  by  the  king's  troops,  and  that  success  receded  from  the 
English  armies,  in  proportion  as  they  assumed  the  conduct  of 
affairs,  or  attempted  enterprises  unaided  by  colonial  forces. 

The  first  inter-colonial  war  commenced  on  this  continent  by  an 
attack,  made  by  a  combined  force  of  Indians  and  French,  on  the 
defenseless  frontiers  in  1690,  and  continued  until  the  tenth  day 
of  December,  1697,  when  the  peace  of  Ryswick  was  proclaimed 
at  Boston.*  The  territory  claimed  by  the  French  on  this  conti- 
nent confined  the  English  plantations  to  a  strip  of  land  of  unequal 
width  on  the  sea-coast.  Asserting  the  Kennebec  to  be  the  bound- 
ary between  them  and  Massachusetts,  they  held  the  whole  east- 
ern coast,  Nova  Scotia,  Cape  Breton,  St.  John  (now  Prince 
Edward's  Island),  Newfoundland,  Labrador,  and  Hudson's 
Bay,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  they  maintained  that  they  were 
entitled  to  a  moiety  of  Vermont,  to  more  than  half  of  the  province 
of  New  York,  to  the  whole  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  and  to  Texas, 
as  far  as  the  Rio  Bravo  del  Norte.  Knowing  their  own  weakness, 
they  proposed,  at  the  commencement  of  hostilities,  to  prolong  the 
peace  then  subsisting  in  America ;  an  offer  which  "William 
promptly  rejected.  But  nothing  seemed  to  be  severer  in  the  for- 
tune of  the  British  colonies,  than  that  after  they  had  purchased 
or  conquered  their  territory,  unaided  by  foreign  interference,  their 
peace,  which  was  the  natural  effect  of  their  exertions,  should  be 
subject  to  be  disturbed  by  the  broils  of  the  parent  countries  ;  and 
that  after  the  bravery  of  their  people  had  relieved  them  from  the 
natural  strength  of  the  Aboriginals,  they  should  be  destined  to  be 
attacked  again  by  their  old  enemies,  inspired  and  aided  by  auxil- 
iary forces  of  Europeans. 

The  total  population  of  the  English  colonies,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  hostilities,  might  have  amounted  to  two  hundred  thou- 
sand ;  but  half  at  least  of  it  south  of  the  Delaware,  and  far  re- 
*  The  treaty  was  signed  on  the  1st  of  September. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  209 

moved  from  the  scene  of  action,  took  no  part  in  the  struggle, 
beyond  voting  some  small  sums  for  the  aid  of  New  York.  At  a 
first  view  of  the  relative  strength  of  these  rival  countries,  it  would 
appear  that  the  provincials  were  an  overmatch  for  their  Gallic 
neighbors ;  but  the  military  enterprise,  and  ardor  of  the  latter, 
were  aided  by  a  decision  natural  to  the  character  of  the  nation, 
and  resulting  from  the  despotism  of  their  monarchy.  Their 
religion,  or  rather  their  priests,  subserved  the  cause  of  their 
government  with  all  the  arts  and  influence  of  a  system  too  long 
devoted  more  to  human  than  spiritual  purposes.*  The  rulers  of 
the  mother  country,  and  all  the  colonists,  had  but  one  object. 
No  encroachments  upon  charter  privileges,  no  resistance  to  the 
exercise  of  disputed  prerogative,  and  no  division  of  the  Estab- 
lished Church,  relaxed  the  common  ardor  for  the  glory  of  the 
monarchy.  However  despotic  the  government  of  France  might 
have  been  in  Canada,  it  was  paternal,  alike  calculated  to  secure 
the  interests,  and  win  the  affections  of  the  people.  The  ad- 
ministration of  its  affairs  was  intrusted  to  a  Governor,  an 
Intendant,  and  a  Royal  Council.  The  former  was  invested  with 
a  great  deal  of  power,  which,  however,  on  the  side  of  the  crown, 
was  checked  by  the  Intendant,  who  had  the  care  of  the  king's 
rights,  and  whatever  related  to  the  revenue  ;  and  on  the  side  of 
the  people,  it  was  restrained  by  the  Royal  Council,  whose  office 
it  was  to  see  that  the  people  were  not  oppressed  by  the  one,  nor 
defrauded  by  the  other  ;  and  they  were  all  checked  by  the  con- 
stant and  jealous  eye,  which  the  government  at  home  kept  over 
them.  The  officers  at  all  the  ports  of  France  were  charged ,t 
under  the  severest  penalties,  to  interrogate  all  captains  of  ships, 
corning  from  the  colonies,  concerning  the  reception  they  met  at 
the  ports  they  were  bound  to  ;  how  justice  was  administered,  and 
what  charges  were  imposed  on  them.  The  passengers,  and  even 
the  sailors,  were  examined  upon  these  heads ;  and  a  verbal  process 
of  the  whole  was  formed,  and  transmitted  with  all  speed  to  the 
Admiralty.  Complaints  were  encouraged,  but  a  difference  was 
made  between  hearing  an  accusation,  and  condemning  upon  it. 
Unlike  the  practice  in  thef  British  provinces  at  that  time,  the 
salaries  of  all  the  officers  «were  defrayed  from  the  treasury  of 
France.  The  local  authorities  derived  great  strength,  in  addition 
to  a  complete  control  of  the  people,  from  the  affections  of  the 
*  Minot.  t  British  Settlements  in  America. 


210  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

savases,  whose  character  they  understood,  and  whose  regard  they 
knew  how  to  win,  better  than  the  English.  They  were  frater- 
nized by  an  assimilation  of  manners,  of  families,  and  of  worship. 
When  the  French  planted  a  military  post,  it  was  not  merely  by 
a  garrison,  but  they  naturalized  the  place  by  a  domestic  neigh- 
borhood, and  a  numerous  population.  This  mixture  with  the 
natives  gave  them  an  ascendency  in  their  councils  and  enterprises? 
When  they  levied  war,  they  drew  down  the  savage  tribe  upon 
the  frontier  of  the  enemy ;  and  after  exercising  their  usual  bar- 
barities, commonly  retreated  too  soon  for  successful  pursuit. 

The  English  Provincials  were  soon  made  sensible  of  the  evils 
resulting  from  the  unwise  rejection  of  neutrality  by  the  king. 
Count  Frontenac,  who  had  recently  returned  from  France,  with 
reinforcements,  dispatched  three  marauding  parties  to  fall  upon 
the  defenseless  frontiers,  and  their  unsuspecting  inhabitants.  As 
it  is  not  my  intention  to  enter  into  any  details  of  these  wars,  I 
shall  here  describe  the  havoc  committed  by  their  detachments,  in 
order  to  convey  to  the  reader  some  idea  of  the  barbarous  and 
horrible  warfare  carried  on  by  the  colonies  of  the  two  most 
enlightened  nations  in  the  world. 

The  first  party  consisted  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  savages  and 
traders,  guided,  says  Hildreth,  by  the  water-courses,  whose  frozen 
surface  furnished  them  a  path.  They  traversed  a  wooded  wilder- 
ness covered  with  deep  snows.  Pressing  stealthily  forward,  in  a 
single  file,  the  foremost  wore  snow  shoes,  and  so  beat  a  track  for 
the  rest.  At  night  the  snow  was  thrown  up  toward  the  side, 
whence  the  wind  came  ;  and  in  the  hollow  trees  scooped  out, 
they  slept  on  branches  of  pine,  with  a  fire  in  the  midst.  A  little 
parched  corn  served  them  for  provisions,  eked  out  by  such  game 
as  they  killed.  After  a  twenty-two  days'  march,  intent  on  their 
bloody  purpose,  they  approached  Schenectady,  the  object  of  their 
toil.  This  was  a  Dutch  village  on  the  Mohawk,  then  the  out- 
post of  the  settlements  about  Albany.  A  cluster  of  some  forty 
houses  was  protected  by  a  palisade,  but  the  gates  were  open  and 
unguarded,  and,  at  midnight,  the  inhabitants  slept  profoundly. 
The  assailants  entered  in  silence,  divided  themselves  into  several 
parties,  and  giving  the  signal  by  the  terrible  war-whoop,  com 
menced  the  attack.  Sixty  were  slain  on  the  spot,  twenty-seven 
were  taken  prisoners,  and  the  rest  fled,  half  naked,  along  the  road 
to  Albany,  through  a  driving  storm  of  sleet  and  deep  snow,  and  cold 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  211 

so  bitter  that  many  lost  their  limbs  by  frost.  The  assailants  set 
off  for  Canada  with  their  prisoners  and  their  plunder,  and  effected 
their  "escape,  though  not  without  severe  loss,  inflicted  by  some 
Mohawk  warriors,  who  hastened  to  pursue  them. 

Another  party,  consisting  of  fifty-two  persons,  of  whom  twenty- 
five  were  Indians,  departing  from  Three  Rivers,  a  village,  half- 
way from  Montreal  to  Quebec,  ascended  the  St.  Francis,  entered 
the  valley  of  the  Upper  Connecticut,  and  thence  made  their  way 
across  the  mountains  and  forests  of  New  Hampshire.  Presently 
they  descended  on  Salmon  Falls,  a  frontier  village,  on  the  chief 
branch  of  the  Piscataqua,  and  killed  about  thirty  of  the  bravest 
of  the  inhabitants.  The  rest,  to  the  number  of  fifty-four,  prin- 
cipally women  and  children,  surrendered  at  discretion. 

The  Sieur  Hertel,  who  commanded  this  expedition,  met,  on 
his  way  homeward,  a  third  party,  which  had  marched  from  Que- 
bec, and,  joining  his  company  to  it,  he  attacked  and  destroyed  the 
fort  of  Casco.  This  latter  place  was  so  situated  as  to  be  over- 
looked from  a  rock,  that  was  near  it,  from  which  the  Indians 
galled  the  garrison  to  such  a  degree,  that  the  next  day  it  capitu- 
lated on  terms  which  were  kept  with  Indian  faith,  some  of  the 
men  being  butchered,  and  the  others  carried  away  captive.  The 
people  of  New  England,  to  rid  themselves  of  such  troublesome 
neighbors,  conceived  the  bold  idea  of  taking  Quebec,  and  accord- 
ingly a  considerable  fleet  and  armament  was  sent  up  the  St. 
Lawrence,  for  this  purpose ;  but  it  was  an  ill-concerted  plan, 
intrusted  to  incompetent  persons,  and  unhappily  failed. 

The  loss  of  the  fort  of  Pimaquid,  and  the  capture  of  Port  Royal 
(now  Annapolis)  in  Nova  Scotia,  with  numerous  petty,  but  mur- 
derous inroads,  in  which  liberal  use  of  fire  and  sword  was  made 
by  both  parties,  occupied  the  attention  of  the  combatants  during 
the  remainder  of  the  war  ;  both  the  English  and  French  Provin- 
cials being  left  to  their  own  resources  in  consequence  of  the  great 
struggle  that  was  going  on  in  Europe.  The  most  remarkable  of 
these  incursions  was  one  made  by  Frontenac  from  Canada,  in 
order  to  chastise  the  savages  dwelling  in  the  rear  of  New  York, 
who  were  in  the  interest  of  the  English,  and  served  as  a  shield  to 
protect  them  from  the  French.  After  indescribable  labor  and 
fatigue,  they  surmounted  all  the  difficulties  presented  by  an  in- 
terminable forest,  deep  snow,  and  severe  cold,  and  surprised  the 
Mohawk  villages  near  Albany,  and  carried  off  in  chains  three 


212  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

hundred  of  their  warriors,  although  a  prompt  and  vigorous  pur- 
suit caused  them  some  loss  hoth  of  their  own  men  and  their 
captives. 

The  Treaty  of  Ryswick  put  a  temporary  stop  to  these  cruel 
hostilities,  and  the  colonists  had  some  repose  from  the  incessant 
vigilance  which  the  nature  of  the  warfare  and  character  of  their 
opponents  demanded.  By  the  seventh  article,  it  was  agreed  that 
mutual  restitution  should  he  made  of  all  captured  forts,  countries, 
and  colonies  ;  while  an  enormous  expense  was  entailed  on  France, 
England,  and  the  provinces  in  America. 

The  second  inter-colonial  war  commenced  in  1702,  and  was 
terminated  by  the  Treaty  of  Utrecht,  on  the  30th  of  March,  1713. 
Peace  was  scarcely  proclaimed  when  the  defects  of  the  Treaty  of 
Ryswick  became  apparent  to  all.  The  French  continued  their 
old  or  commenced  new  encroachments,  intrigued  with  the  Indians, 
and  occupied  themselves  in  preparing  for  another  conflict,  which 
they  knew  to  be  inevitable.  Their  movements  were  viewed  with 
great  jealousy  and  alarm  by  both  New  York  and  Massachusetts, 
upon  whom  the  whole  brunt  of  hostilities  would  inevitably  fall ; 
while  the  other  colonies,  shielded  by  them,  neither  felt  for  their 
sufferings  nor  contributed  to  their  defense.  The  impossibility  of 
combining  twelve  distinct  and  independent  provinces  in  one  com- 
mon system  of  defense,  or  attack,  had  been  so  often  represented  to 
the  late  king,  that  the  whole  subject  was  now  referred  to  the 
Council  of  the  Colonies,  who  reported  that  "  they  had  employed 
much  time  in  promoting  domestic  industry,  in  urging  foreign 
enterprise,  and  much  attention  in  corresponding  with  the  gover- 
nors of  colonies,  in  perusing  acts  of  Assembly,  and  in  giving  energy 
to  the  laws  of  navigation,  which  it  had  been  so  difficult  to  enforce." 
For  several  years  after,  both  Houses  of  Parliament  demanded, 
what  was  regularly  furnished  by  the  Board,  a  general  statement 
of  the  national  commerce,  in  order  to  discover  whether  it  pros- 
pered or  declined.  The  disorders  and  the  consequent  weakness 
of  the  plantations,  owing  less  to  the  pressure  of  a  too  potent  enemy 
than  to  the  impossibility  of  procuring  the  concurrence  of  twelve 
democratical  conventions  in  any  common  measure,  who,  being  all 
independent  of  each  other,  were  actuated  by  dissimilar  designs, 
had  been  so  often  represented  to  the  Ministers,  as  at  length  to 
engage  attention.  That  respectable  commission  having  consid- 
ered the  whole  matter  with  the  utmost  care,  stated  to  the  Lords 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  2l3 

Justices,  in  September,  1696,  during  the  king's  absence,  "that 
in  those  settlements  there  was  force  enough  to  repel  the  neigh- 
boring French ;  but  they  are  so  disunited  in  interests,  that  they 
have  hitherto  afforded  little  assistance  to  each  other,  and  show  a 
worse  disposition  to  do  it  in  future.  Nor  can  it  be  imagined  that 
the  English  there  should  think  it  much  to  employ  their  own 
hands  and  purses  in  defense  of  their  own  estates,  lives,  and 
families,  yet  should  expect  to  be  wholly  supported  from  England, 
which  hath  spent  so  much  blood  and  treasure  in  the  carrying  on 
of  so  lasting  a  war ;  that  by  reason  of  the  various  independent 
governments,  they  could  not  perceive  how  it  is  possible  to  preserve 
those  provinces,  unless  his  Majesty  shall  appoint  a  captain-general 
of  all  his  forces,  and  of  the  militia  of  all  the  colonies,  with  power 
to  levy  and  command  them  for  their  defense.  That  considering 
it  would  be  impossible  for  the  planters  to  remain  in  that  country 
if  the  neighboring  Indians  should  once  be  gained  over  to  the 
French,  it  will  be  very  expedient  to  secure  the  tribes  by  every 
encouragement,  giving  them  rewards  for  all  execution  done  by 
them  on  the  enemy,  and  the  scalps  they  bring  in  be  well  paid  for." 

This  judicious  advicer  though  approved,  was  unhappily  not 
acted  upon.  The  attention  of  politicians  was  engrossed  by  more 
favorite,  because  more  personal  schemes.  One  of  the  first  acts 
of  Queen  Anne  was  to  declare  war  against  France,  and  to  send 
artillery,  small  arms,  and  military  stores  to  the  colonists,  with  in- 
junctions to  aid  and  assist  each  other.  The  horrid  scenes  already 
described  were  re-enacted,  with  more  barbarity,  because  each 
party  had  injuries  to  avenge,  and  had  lost  relations  whose  death 
was  to  be  atoned  for  in  blood. 

We  shall  not  pursue  the  subject  into  detail.  During  the  ten 
years  it  continued,  the  forces  of  Massachusetts  swept  the  coast 
from  the  Piscataqua  to  Nova  Scotia  with  five  hundred  and  fifty 
men,  taking  the  town  of  Menis  in  1704 ;  and  in  three  years  after- 
ward one  thousand  men  were  transported  to  capture  Port  Royal, 
and  made  two  unsuccessful  attempts  upon  it.  In  the  year  1710 
the  province  furnished  two  complete  regiments,  with  the  necessary 
shipping,  in  aid  of  the  squadron  and  army  who  captured  that 
place. 

The  principal  incident  of  the  war  was  an  expedition  for  the 
conquest  of  Canada.  In  June,  1711,  a  large  fleet,  consisting  of 
fifteen  ships  of  war,  with  forty  transports,  having  on  board  five 


214  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

veteran  regiments  of  Marlborough's  army,  arrived  at  Boston, 
where  they  were  detained  more  than  a  month,  waiting  for  pro- 
visions and  colonial  auxiliaries.  Massachusetts  furnished  £40:000 
to  aid  the  enterprise,  New  York  £10,000,  and  Pennsylvania, 
under  the  Quaker  evasion  of  a  present  to  the  Queen,  contributed 
£2,000.  Fifteen  hundred  troops,  furnished  by  Connecticut,  New 
York,  and  New  Jersey,  were  assembled  at  Albany,  and  placed 
under  the  command  of  Governor  Nicholson,  who  was  soon  after 
joined  by  eight  hundred  Indian  warriors,  which  combined  force 
was  destined  to  make  an  attack  on  Montreal,  while  the  fleet  was 
to  attempt  the  capture  of  Quebec.  The  naval  expedition  failed, 
owing  to  the  mismanagement  and  ignorance  of  Admiral  Walker, 
who  lost  eight  of  his  transports  and  a  thousand  men  in  the 
St.  Lawrence ;  after  which  he  sent  home  the  Massachusetts 
vessels  with  their  troops,  and  returned  immediately  to  England, 
where  he  endeavored  to  exculpate  himself  by  throwing  the  whole 
blame  on  the  Provincials.  This  unexpected  disaster  frustrated 
the  hopes  of  the  forces  destined  for  the  land  attack ;  and  the  pro- 
vinces were  left  to  count  the  cost  of  these  heavy  charges,  and 
digest  as  they  could,  the  imputation  on  their  conduct  and  courage, 
so  ungenerously  made  by  the  naval  commander. 

Small  as  these  armaments  now  seem,  the  expense  was  severely 
felt  at  the  time  by  a  people  who  were  greatly  impoverished  by 
continued  hostilities.  In  the  capture  of  Port  Royal,  in  1710, 
Massachusetts,  as  we  have  already  seen,  furnished  two  entire 
regiments  with  the  necessary  shipping  for  their  conveyance,  and 
supplied  Admiral  Walker  with  ten  weeks'  provision  for  the  forces 
under  his  command.  During  one  summer,  one-fifth  of  the  whole 
population  capahle  of  bearing  arms,  were  under  pay ;  and  it  is 
computed  that  she  had  lost  between  five  and  six  thousand  able- 
bodied  young  men. 

The  Treaty  of  Utrecht  was  signed  on  the  30th  of  March,  1713. 
Unlike  that  of  Ryswick,  which  was  based  on  a  general  restitution, 
it  secured  to  England,  Acadia  (Nova  Scotia),  according  to  its 
ancient  limits  ;  the  fur  trade  of  Hudson's  Bay,  the  whole  of  New- 
foundland, with  certain  reservations,  as  to  a  participation  in  the 
fisheries,  and  the  French  part  of  St.  Kitt's,  in  the  West  Indies ; 
and  acknowledged  the  English  sovereignty,  hitherto  disputed,  over 
the  five  nations  of  Indians  inhabiting  the  territory  bordering  on 
New  York. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  215 

Although  dispersed  over  an  immense  surface,  the  population 
of  the  colonies  was  so  great,  as  to  make  them  feared  equally  by 
the  French,  who  could  make  but  little  impression  upon  them  ; 
and  by  the  English,  who  could  not  command  their  obedience.  In 
the  quarter  of  a  century,  from  the  Revolution  of  1688,  to  the 
accession  of  the  House  of  Hanover,  their  population  had  doubled. 
A  public  document  prepared  for  the  Board  of  Trade,  gives  the 
following  returns  : 

Whites.  Negroes.  Total. 

375,750  58,850  434,600 

The  immigration  into  the  colonies  since  1690 — a  period  of 
twenty-five  years — had  been  inconsiderable,  consisting  principally 
of  negro  slaves,  and  of  Irish  and  German  indented  servants. 
The  great  majority  of  the  present  inhabitants  were  natives  of 
America. 

The  third  inter-colonial  war  commenced  in  1743,  and  was 
brought  to  a  close  by  the  Treaty  of  Aix-la-Chapelle,  on  the  7th 
of  October,  1748.  The  first  information  received  of  it  was  brought 
by  some  fugitives  from  Casco,  which  place  had  been  captured  by 
the  French  of  Louisburg,  in  Cape  Breton,  and  by  messengers 
from  Annapolis,  stating  that  the  place  was  invested  by  a  large 
force  headed  by  a  priest.  Relief  was  promptly  yielded,  but  no 
sooner  had  the  fleet  sailed  for  Boston,  than  the  same  ecclesiastic 
made  a  second  attack,  that  required  the  garrison  to  be  so  strength- 
ened, as  to  be  beyond  the  reach  of  any  thing  but  ships  of  war  or 
a  large  body  of  regular  troops. 

Louisburg,  which  the  French  had  fortified  at  a  prodigious  ex- 
pense, was  now  by  far  the  strongest  post  north  of  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico,  and  at  the  same  time  was  situated  in  the  most  import- 
ant position.  It  commanded  the  entrance  to  the  Gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence,  secured  a  monopoly  of  the  fisheries,  furnished  in  abund- 
ance the  requisite  supplies  for  the  West  Indies,  afforded  shelter 
and  repairs  for  the  French  fleet,  and  was  so  conveniently  situated 
for  privateers,  that  the  English  commerce  was  almost  annihilated. 
Some  prisoners,  who  returned  from  thence  on  parole,  suggested 
the  idea,  that  a  sudden,  bold,  and  vigorous  attack  upon  it,  if  at- 
tempted at  once,  would  probably  prove  successful.  The  proposal 
was  approved  by  the  governor,  and  submitted  to  the  Legislature  ; 
but  so  formidable  did  the  undertaking  appear,  that  the  measure 
•was  only  carried  by  a  majority  of  one  vote.  A  circular,  asking 


216  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

assistance  and  co-operation,  was  sent  to  the  other  colonies,  some 
of  whom  responded  to  the  call,  and  contributed  more  or  less,  ac- 
cording to  the  interest  they  had  in  navigation.  Pennsylvania, 
which  was  always  distinguished  for  tender  conscience,  would  not 
raise  troops  for  so  wicked  a  purpose  as  to  kill  their  fellow  beings, 
but  gave  two  thousand  pounds  to  purchase  provisions  for  them, 
lest,  peradventure,  they  might  die  of  famine  as  well  as  by  the 
sword.  Whitfield,  then  preaching  in  America,  gave  his  influence 
in  favor  of  the  expedition,  and  suggested  as  a  motto  for  the  flag 
of  the  New  Hampshire  regiment,  "  Nil  desperandum  Christo 
duce."  The  enterprise,  under  such  auspices,  assumed  something 
of  the  character  of  an  anti-Catholic  crusade,  and  one  of  the  chap- 
lains carried  a  hatchet  for  the  purpose  of  hewing  down  the  images 
in  the  French  churches. 

The  forces  employed  by  Massachusetts  to  reduce  the  island  of 
Cape  Breton,  consisted  of  upwards  of  three  thousand  two  hundred 
of  their  own  men,  who  were  aided  by  five  hundred  from  Con- 
necticut, and  three  hundred  from  New  Hampshire.  In  addition 
to  these,  three  hundred  arrived  from  Rhode  Island,  but  not  until 
the  enemy  had  surrendered.  Ten  vessels  of  which  the  two  largest 
carried  only  twenty  guns  each,  with  the  armed  sloops  of  Connect- 
icut and  Rhode  Island  as  cruisers,  constituted  the  whole  naval 
force,  until  the  arrival  of  the  troops  at  Casco,  where  they  were 
joined  by  a  squadron  of  the  king's  ships,  under  Admiral  Warren. 

The  men  embarked  on  the  24th  day  of  March,  1745,  and 
being  landed  on  the  island  of  Cape  Breton  on  the  30th  of  April, 
the  operations  were  continued  against  Louisburg  until  the  17th 
of  June  following,  when  it  was  surrendered.  The  New  England 
forces  lost  only  one  hundred  and  one  men,  killed  by  the  enemy 
and  accidental  causes,  and  about  thirty,  who  died  of  sickness ; 
while  the  French  were  supposed  to  have  lost  three  hundred,  who 
were  killed  within  their  walls.  The  strength  of  Louisburg, 
which  was  regularly  fortified  and  garrisoned  by  six  hundred  and 
fifty  veteran  troops,  and  one  thousand  three  hundred  effective 
men  of  the  inhabitants,  and  the  relative  consequence  of  the 
island,  as  affecting  the  other  settlements  of  the  contending  powers, 
places  this  voluntary  enterprise  of  New  England  in  an  important 
point  of  view. 

The  capitulation  was  no  sooner  signed,  than  the  admiral, 
whose  blunders  had,  in  the  first  instance,  retarded  the  operations, 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  217 

with  that  assumption  which  has  ever  distinguished  both  branches 
of  the  service,  when  associated  with  colonists,  claimed  the  whole 
merit  of  the  achievement.  England,  with  her  wonted  liberality 
settled  the  dispute  between  the  rival  commanders,  by  reward- 
ing both.  Elated  by  their  success,  the  Provincials  now  offered 
to  undertake  \he  conquest  of  Canada ;  but  the  Duke  of  Bedford, 
to  whom  Governor  Shirley's  plan  had  been  submitted,  disapproved 
of  it,  as  exhibiting  to  the  colonists  too  plainly  their  own  strength. 
He  represented  "  how  imprudent  it  would  be  to  send  twenty 
thousand  colonists  to  plunder  the  Canadians,  and  conquer  their 
lands  (after  the  experience  we  have  had  of  their  conduct  and 
principles),  on  account  of  the  independence  it  might  create  in 
those  provinces,  when  they  shall  see  within  themselves  so  great 
an  army,  possessed  of  so  great  a  country  by  right  of  conquest." 
He  therefore  advised  to  place  the  chief  dependence  on  the  fleet 
and  army  to  be  sent  from  England,  and  to  look  on  the  Americans 
as  useful  only  when,  joined  with  others.  Finally,  the  Whigs 
determined  to  send  a  powerful  fleet  to  Quebec,  at  the  same  time 
that  an  army  should  attack  Montreal,  by  the  route  of  Lake 
Champlain  ;  and  so  late  as  April,  1746,  orders  were  issued  to  the 
several  governors  to  levy  troops  without  limitation,  which,  when 
assembled  on  the  frontiers,  the  king  would  pay. 

From  some  unknown  cause,  the  plan  was  abandoned  as  soon  as 
formed.  The  general  appointed  to  the  chief  command  was  order- 
ed not  to  embark,  but  the  instructions  to  enlist  troops  had  been 
transmitted  to  America,  and  were  acted  on  with  alacrity.  Mas- 
sachusetts raised  three  thousand  five  hundred  men,  to  co-operate 
with  the  fleet,  which,  however,  they  were  doomed  never  to  see. 

After  being  kept  a  long  time  in  suspense,  they  were  dispersed, 
in  several  places,  to  strengthen  garrisons  which  were  supposed  to 
be  too  weak  for  the  defenses  assigned  them.  Upward  of  three 
thousand  men,  belonging  to  other  colonies,  were  assembled  at 
Albany,  undisciplined,  without  a  commissariat,  and  under  no  con- 
trol. After  the  season  for  active  operations  was  allowed  to  pass 
away,  they  disbanded  themselves,  some  with  arms  in  their  hands 
demanding  pay  of  their  governors,  and  others  suing  their  captains. 
In  addition  to  this  disgraceful  affair,  the  Provincials  had  the 
mortification  to  have  a  large  detachment  of  their  men  cut  off  in 
Lower  Horton,  then  known  as  Minas,  situated  nearly  in  the  centre 
.  of  Nova  Scotia. 

K 


218  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

The  Canadian  forces,  which  had  traveled  thither  to  co-operate 
with  an  immense  fleet  expected  from  France,  determining  to 
winter  in  that  province,  rendered  it  a  subject  of  continued  anxiety 
and  expense  to  Massachusetts.  Governor  Shirley  resolved,  after 
again  reinforcing  the  garrison  at  Annapolis,  to  drive  them  from 
the  shores  of  Minas  Basin,  where  they  were  seated  ;  and  in  the 
winter  of  the  year  1746,  a  body  of  troops  was  embarked  at  Boston 
for  the  former  place.  After  the  loss  of  a  transport,  and  the  great- 
est part  of  the  soldiers  on  board,  the  troops  arrived,  and  re-em- 
barked for  Grand  Pre  in  the  district  of  Minas,  in  the  latter  end 
of  December ;  when  the  rigor  of  the  climate  might  have  been 
supposed  to  have  operated  as  a  guard  against  an  attack.  The 
issue  was,  that  being  cantoned  at  too  great  distances  from  each 
other,  La  Corne,  a  commander  of  the  French,  having  intelligence 
of  their  situation,  forced  a  march  from  Schiegnieto,  through  a 
most  tempestuous  snow-storm,  and  surprised  them  at  midnight. 
After  losing  one  hundred  and  sixty  of  their  men,  in  killed,  wound- 
ed and  prisoners,  the  party  were  obliged  to  capitulate,  not,  how- 
ever, on  dishonorable  terms,  and  the  French,  in  their  turn,  aban- 
doned their  post. 

On  the  8th  of  May,  1749,  peace  was  proclaimed  at  Boston, 
much  to  the  mortification  of  the  Provincials ;  Cape  Breton  was 
restored  to  France ;  and  Louisburg,  which  had  created  so  much 
dread,  and  inflicted  such  injuries  on  their  commerce,  was  handed 
over  to  their  inveterate  enemies,  to  be  rendered  still  stronger  by 
additional  fortifications.  The  French  also  obtained  the  islands 
of  St.  Pierre  and  Michelon,  on  the  south  coast  of  Newfoundland 
as  stations  for  their  fisheries.  England,  with  her  wonted  munifi- 
cence, as  an  indemnity  for  the  expense  incurred  by  the  Provincials 
in  taking  Louisburg,  paid  them  the  sum  of  £183,000,  and  also 
reimbursed  the  colonies  for  the  losses  sustained  in  raising  troops 
for  invading  Canada,  under  orders  subsequently  revoked,  amount- 
ing to  £135,000. 

The  fourth,  last,  and  by  far  the  most  important  inter-colonial 
war,  though  not  formally  declared,  commenced  by  hostilities  in 
America,  early  in  the  year  1754,  and  terminated  on  the  10th  of 
February,  1763.  The  peace,  so  far  from  restoring  amicable  re- 
lations between  England  and  France,  was  used  by  the  latter  in 
preparing  for  another  struggle.  The  Indians  were  incited  to 
hostilities  in  all  quarters,  and  especially  in  Nova  Scotia,  where. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  219 

the  inhabitants  of  the  infant  settlement  at  Halifax  were  exposed 
to  every  species  of  injury  and  insult.  Throughout  the  whole  of 
that  territory  that  stretches  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  lies  in  the  rear  of  the  continental  colonies,  the  Gover- 
nor of  Canada  erected  about  twenty  fortified  posts,  to  secure  the 
country  he  had  encroached  upon.  In  1672,  one  was  built  on  the 
north  entrance  of  Lake  Ontario,  and  another,  in  the  following 
year,  at  Michilimackinac.  In  1684,  a  very  respectable  fortifi- 
cation was  completed  at  Niagara,  and  another  in  the  same  strait 
in  the  year  1720.  The  passage  between  Lake  Erie  and  Huron 
was  secured  by  a  fort,  in  1683,  the  navigation  of  Lake  Michigan 
was  defended  by  one  on  each  side  of  it,  and  that  of  the  River 
Toronto  by  another,  on  its  eastern  confines.  Three  more,  with 
an  entrenched  town  and  a  citadel,  were  completed  at  Crown 
Point,  at  Champlain,  and  Richelieu,  while  many  settlements 
were  made  between  the  Iroquois  River  and  Montreal,  which 
with  seven  villages  within  the  disputed  bounds  of  Massachusetts, 
might  have  contained  about  thirty  parish  churches. 

The  French  having  taken  several  English  traders  within  this 
region  thus  usurped  by  them,  and  confiscated  their  goods,  sent 
them  prisoners  to  Canada ;  and  the  Indians  in  their  alliance, 
having  murdered  several  provincial  settlers  on  the  same  ground, 
Lieutenant-governor  Dinwiddie  of  Virginia,  sent  Washington  to 
the  commander  of  their  forces  on  the  Ohio,  to  inquire  into  the 
reasons  of  these  injurious  proceedings.  The  answer  given  to  him 
was  such  as  might  have  been  expected :  "  That  it  was  French 
territory."  A  fort  was  then  erected  by  the  Virginians,  to  check 
the  progress  of  the  enemy,  at  the  Forks  of  the  Monongahela. 
This  on  the  17th  of  April,  was  taken  by  a  force  consisting  of  up- 
ward of  six  hundred  men,  and  eighteen  pieces  of  cannon,  the  gar- 
rison being  permitted  to  retire.  On  the  25th  of  the  same  month, 
Colonel  Washington,  since  so  well  known  throughout  the  civil- 
ized world,  took  a  small  party  who  were  approaching  him,  under 
the  command  of  Captain  Digonville ;  but  on  the  3d  of  July, 
bemg  surrounded  by  vastly  superior  numbers,  after  a  manly  resist- 
ance from  eleven  o'clock  in  the  forenoon  to  eight  in  the  evening, 
he  was  obliged  to  capitulate.  Thus  were  hostilities  decidedly 
commenced  on  the  continent  of  America,  and  all  the  colonies 
were  once  more  involved  in  the  horrors  of  war. 

Four  operations  were  undertaken  at  the   same   time  by  the 


220  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

British  and  Provincial  forces ;  of  these  one  was  commanded  by 
Colonel  Monckton  who  had  orders  to  drive  the  French  from  their 
encroachments  upon  Nova  Scotia.  The  second,  more  to  the 
south,  was  directed  against  Crown  Point,  under  the  command  of 
General  Johnson.  The  third,  under  the  conduct  of  General 
Shirley,  was  destined  to  proceed  to  Niagara,  to  secure  the  forts 
on  that  river  ;  and  the  fourth,  further  southward  still,  under  Gen- 
eral Braddock  was  ordered  to  reduce  Fort  Quesne. 

The  first  was  successful.  The  troops  were  raised  in  Massa- 
chusetts Bay,  and  acted  as  a  distinct  body  under  their  own  officers, 
with  a  promise  of  the  same  pay,  and  treatment  in  every  respect 
as  others  in  the  same  service  with  them.  They  embarked  at 
Boston  on  the  20th  of  May,  and  arrived  at  the  basin- of  Annapo- 
lis Royal  on  the  25th,  whence  they  sailed  on  the  first  of  June, 
in  a  fleet  of  forty- one  vessels,  to  Chignecto,  and  anchored  about 
five  miles  from  Fort  Lawrence.  On  the  4th,  being  joined  by 
about  three  hundred  regulars,  with  a  small  train  of  artillery,  they 
marched  for  the  French  fort,  Beau  Sejour.  On  the  16th,  the 
enemy  surrendered,  being  allowed  to  march  out  with  the  honors 
of  war,  and  to  be  transported  with  their  effects  to  Louisburg,  at 
the  expense  of  the  King  of  Great  Britain,  on  condition  of  not 
bearing  arms  for  six  months.  The  Fort  of  Gaspareau  of  neces- 
sity surrendered,  after  that  of  Beau  Sejour,  and  was  allowed  the 
same  terms.  The  name  of  the  latter  was  changed  to  Cumber- 
land. 

Braddock,  who  commanded  the  expedition  against  Fort  du 
Quesne,  suffered  a  shameful  defeat.  He  was  repeatedly  warned 
that  the  nature  of  the  country,  and  the  warfare  he  was  engaged 
in,  required  the  utmost  caution.  He  was  advised  to  send  forward 
the  Provincial  troops  that  served  in  his  army,  consisting  of  inde- 
pendent and  ranging  companies,  to  scour  the  woods,  and  guard 
against  an  aniWiscade  ;  but  he  thought  too  contemptuously  both 
of  the  enemy,  and  the  colonists,  to  follow  that  judicious  recom- 
mendation. The  consequence  was,  he  fell  into  an  ambush  when 
within  seven  miles  of  the  fort.  His  army  was  totally  routed,  and 
sixty-four  officers  and  about  one  half  of  the  men  were  killed  or 
wounded.  The  Provincials  were  formed  under  Colonel  Washing- 
ton, and  covered  the  retreat  of  the  fugitives. 

General  Johnston,  though  unable  to  attempt  Crown  Point,  re- 
vived the  drooping  spirits  of  the  people,  by  repulsing  the  Baron 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  221 

Dieskau  and  a  large  force,  after  a  hard  and  well-contested  fight. 
General  Shirley,  from  a  variety  of  causes,  was  unable  to  take 
offensive  measures,  until  the  season  for  action  had  passed,  and  the 
general  result  of  the  war  so  far  was  both  disastrous  and  discouraging. 

The  reasons  why  so  little  was  effected,  where  so  much  was 
confidently  expected,  are  to  be  sought  for  in  the  dissimilar  forms 
of  government  of  twelve  provinces,  and  in  the  want  of  some  controll- 
ing power  to  establish  the  quota  of  men  to  be  furnished  by  each 
— the  absence  of  a  common  treasury,  and  the  right  exercised  by 
every  province  to  interfere  in  the  management  of  their  contingents, 
as  to  the  time  of  their  marching,  the  objects  of  their  destination, 
and  their  supplies.  Another  great  case  of  disgust,  insubordination, 
and  want  of  union,  arose  from  the  invidious  distinction  made  be- 
tween the  king's  troops  and  the  Provincials.  By  an  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, the  general  or  field-officers  who  served  by  commission  from 
the  king,  and  a  captain  and  other  inferior  officers  of  the  British 
forces,  in  all  duties,  took  post  of  the  Provincial  officers  of  like  rank, 
though  their  commissions  were  of  older  date ;  and  what  must 
have  operated  most  unfavorably  in  this  respect  was,  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  officers  among  the  regular  troops  was  extended  to 
Americans  so  grudgingly,  as  so  make  it  evident  that  they  were  no 
further  rewarded  by  commissions,  than  the  enlisting  of  men  made 
it  absolutely  necessary.  This  impolicy  alienated  the  feelings  of 
many  deserving  and  well  affected  colonists.  . 

The  campaign  of  1756,  from  the  operations  of  some  or  all  of 
these  causes,  was  as  unsuccessful  as  that  in  1755.  It  terminated 
with  the  loss  of  the  fort  at  Owego,  and  abandonment,  after  im- 
mense toil  and  expense,  of  the  expedition  against  Crown  Point, 
the  soldiers  being  ingloriously  employed  in  defensive  measures  for 
their  own  safety.  That  of  the  following  year,  1757,  was  still 
more  humiliating  ;  the  loss  of  Fort  William  Henry,  garrisoned  by 
nearly  three  thousand  regular  troops,  filled  the  country  with 
despondency,  and  the  breach  of  the  capitulation  by  the  French, 
whereby  the  prisoners  were  all  pillaged,  and  many  butchered  in 
cold  blood,  was  long  the  theme  of  indignant  reproach.  The  year 
1758  opened  with  better  prospects,  and  is  distinguished  for  the 
capture  of  Louisburg.  A  very  powerful  armament,  consisting 
of  twenty  ships  of  the  line,  and  eighteen  frigates,  having  on  board 
fourteen  hundred  men,  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Boscawen 
and  General  Amherst,  appeared  before  that  place  on  the  2d  of 


222  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

June,  and  on  the  25th  of  July  it  surrendered.  Fort  Frontenac 
was  also  taken  by  a  body  of  three  thousand  Provincials,  aided  by 
regulars ;  and  the  French,  after  a  severe  encounter  with  part  of 
General  Forbes's  army,  evacuated  Fort  de^Quesne  on  the  Ohio. 

Ticonderoga,  the  great  object  of  New  England's  efforts,  still 
remained  to  scourge  the  country,  and  it  was  resolved  forthwith  to 
attack  it.  This  attempt,  however,  proved  unsuccessful,  and 
occasioned  a  loss  of  sixteen  hundred  and  eight  rank  and  file  of 
the  regulars,  among  whom  was  Lord  Viscount  Howe,  and  three- 
hundred  and  thirty-four  Provincials.  To  put  an  end  to  this 
ruinous  contest,  three  great  expeditions  were  undertaken  :  General 
Amherst,  with  a  body  of  twelve  thousand  men,  was  to  attack 
Crown  Point ;  General  Wolf  was,  at  the  opposite  quarter,  to 
enter  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  undertake  the  siege  of  Quebec, 
while  Generals  Johnson  and  Prideaux  were  to  attempt  the 
reduction  of  the  French  forts,  near  the  Falls  of  Niagara. 

It  was  late  in  July  before  General  Amherst  reached  Ticon- 
deroga ;  on  his  approach,  the  French  blew  up  the  magazine, 
evacuated  the  fort,  and  retreated  to  Crown  Point,  whither  he 
immediately  pursued  them.  But  they  retired,  and  took  post  at 
Isle  aux  Noix,  at  the  northern  extremity  of  Lake  Champlain. 
As  the  season  was  so  far  advanced,  he  returned  to  Crown  Point, 
and  put  his  troops  in  winter  quarters. 

The  expedition,  under  Generals  Prideaux  and  Johnson,  against 
Fort  Niagara,  was  crowned  with  complete  success.  A  large 
force,  collected  from  all  the  neighboring  garrisons,  was  assembled 
for  the  purpose  of  raising  the  siege,  for  the  French  justly  con- 
sidered that  post  as  the  key  to  all  their  interior  American  empire. 
These  troops  were  gallantly  repulsed,  in  view  of  the  besieged, 
who,  discouraged  by  having  all  succor  cut  off,  surrendered  as 
prisoners  of  war. 

While  these  successful  operations  were  carried  on  in  Upper 
Canada,  General  Wolfe  was  prosecuting  the  grand  enterprise  for 
the  reduction  of  Quebec.  Of  the  ascent  of  the  heights  of  Abra- 
ham, the  battle  that  ensued,  the  death  of  Wolfe  and  Montcalm, 
the  fall  of  Quebec,  and  the  subsequent  conquest  of  Canada,  every 
history,  both  American  and  English,  contains  a  copious  account. 
To  abridge  it  would  be  to  deprive  it  of  its  interest,  and  to  enter 
upon  it  at  large,  is  inconsistent  with  the  nature  of  this  work. 
Bald  and  scanty  as  the  narrative  I  have  given  must  necessarily 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  223 

be,  it  is  copious  enough  to  exhibit  the  military  character  of  the 
colonists,  and  the  school  in  which  they  were  trained  to  a  knowl- 
edge of  actual  service.  Any  thing  beyond  this  I  have  omitted, 
as  incompatible  with  the  plan  of  a  book  that  professes  not  to  be 
a  history,  but  a  political  sketch. 

On  the  10th  of  February,  1763,  a  definitive  treaty  of  peace 
was  signed  at  Paris,  and  soon  after  ratified.  By  the  second 
article,  France  renounced  and  guaranteed  to  Great  Britain  all 
Nova  Scotia  or  Acadia,  and  likewise  Canada,  the  Isle  of  Cape 
Breton,  and  all  other  islands  in  the  Gulf  and  River  of  St.  Law- 


CHAPTER  II. 

SKETCH  OF  POLITICAL  EVENTS  FROM  1698  TO  1740. 

Arrival  of  Sir  William  Phipps— Difference  between  Old  and  New  Charters — 
Spirit  of  first  Legislation— Determination  to  Establish  no  permanent  Salaries 
—Formation  of  two  Parties,  Loyalists  and  Patriots — Character  and  Death  of 

Phupps New  York  imitates  the    Conduct  of  New   England — Refusal  of 

Militia  of  Connecticut  to  obey  the  King's  Officej^Board  of  Trade  established 
— Courts  of  Admiralty  created — Oath  framed  for  Governors  to  enforce  Trade 
Acts — Arrival  of  Lord  Bellemont — His  Character  and  Conduct— Appointment 
of  Mr.  Dudley — His  Unpopularity — The  Assembly  deny  bis  Right  to  Negative 
their  Choice  of  Speaker,  and  refuse  to  comply  with  any  of  the  Royal  Instruc- 
tions— Insinuations  against  the  Governor  that  he  was  holding  treasonable 
Correspondence  with  the  Enemy — He  is  attacked  by  the  Preachers — Ap- 
pointment of  Colonel  Chute — Opposition  of  Assembly — Appointment  and 
Death  of  Governor  Burnet — Arrival  of  Governor  Belcher — End  of  Contest 
about  fixed  Salaries. 

ON  the  14th  of  May,  1692,  Sir  William  Phipps  arrived  at 
Boston,  with  the  new  charter,  and  a  commission,  appointing  him 
Governor  of  the  colony.  The  people  were  not  a  little  surprised 
to  find,  that  the  patent  which  had  caused  them  so  much  appre- 
hension, was  more  favorable  than  they  expected  ;  but  liberal  as  it 
was,  there  was  a  very  large  party  in  the  colony  averse  from  re- 
ceiving it,  hoping  that  by  showing  a  bold  front,  and  determined 
opposition,  they  might  extort  a  renewal  of  the  old  one. 

Warned  by  past  experience  of  the  danger  of  permitting  any 
sect  to  indulge  intolerance,  a  clause  was  introduced  into  it  by  the 
crown  officers,  allowing  liberty  of  conscience  in  the  worship  of 
God  to  all  Christians  excepting  Papists ;  appeals  to  the  King 
and  Council  were  supported  in  all  personal  actions  above  three 
hundred  pounds  sterling  in  value  ;  and  the  exercise  of  Admiralty 
jurisdiction  was  reserved  to  the  Crown.  But  the  great  restraint 
laid  upon  the  province  consisted  in  the  appointment  of  the  Govern- 
or, Lieutenant-governor,  and  Secretary  by  the  king;  in  investing 
his  representative  with  a  negative  upon  all  laws  and  elections 
made  by  the  Council  and  House  of  Representatives  ;  and  subject- 
ing the  laws,  even  when  thus  sanctioned,  to  rejection  by  the  king, 
within  the  term  of  three  years.  The  Governor  was  also  author- 
ized to  call  an  Assembly  whenever  he  saw  proper,  and  to  adjourn, 


THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  225 

prorogue,  and  dissolve  it  at  pleasure.  No  act  of  the  Legislature 
was  to  have  any  validity  without  his  assent.  The  appointment 
of  all  military  officers  was  vested  in  him  solely,  and  he  had  con- 
current authority  with  the  Council  in  filling  every  situation  in 
Courts  of  Justice  ;  their  civil  officers  were  to  he  chosen  by  the 
two  Houses,  subject  to  his  negative  ;  and  no  money  could  be  paid 
out  of  the  treasury,  but  by  his  warrant. 

Besides  these  changes,  the  differences  between  the  old  and  new 
charter  consisted  in  an  express  authority  for  exercising  powers 
which  had  been  in  constant  use  from  necessary  implication  :  these 
were  the  privileges  of  a  House  of  Representatives  as  a  branch  of 
the  Legislature,  the  levying  of  taxes,  and  creating  courts  for  the 
trial  of  capital  crimes.  The  probate  of  wills,  and  granting  ad- 
ministration on  intestate  estates,  were  expressly  given  to  the  Gov- 
ernor and  Council.  While  the  privileges  of  the  people  were  thus 
diminished,  the  territory  of  the  province  was  enlarged.  The  col- 
ony of  New  Plymouth,  the  province  of  Maine,  and  the  county  of 
Nova  Scotia,  with  the  lands  between  the  two  latter,  were  joined 
to  Massachusetts,  and  formed  an  extensive  tract  of  not  less  than 
eight  hundred  miles  in  length.  Out  of  this  extensive  domain,  the 
only  new  reservations  made  were  the  timber  suitable  for  masts 
for  the  Royal  Navy,  and  grants  of  land  between  the  River  Sa- 
gadahock  and  the  Gulf  and  River  of  St.  Lawrence,  which  were 
not  to  be  valid  without  the  king's  approbation. 

The  jealousy  always  felt  of  royalty  showed  itself  at  once  on  the 
first  exercise  of  prerogative  rights  under  the  charter.  Advantage 
was  taken  of  the  ignorance  of  the  governor  by  the  Council,  to 
assume  to  themselves  the  appointment  of  sheriffs,  justices,  and 
other  similar  officers.  An  act  was  passed  at  the  same  time,  to 
continue  in  full  force,  until  formally  repealed,  all  the  old  laws  of 
the  colony  in  existence  when  the  second  charter  issued ;  by  which, 
had  not  the  design  been  discovered  and  frustrated  in  England, 
the  law  enforcing  the  ecclesiastical  discipline  of  the  Congregation- 
alists,  and  authorizing  the  levying  taxes  for  their  support,  would 
have  been  re-enacted ;  and  as  no  refusal  could  have  been  pro- 
cured without  the  consent  of  the  Lower  House,  it  would  have 
either  remained  forever  on  the  Statute  Book,  or  caused  some 
legislative  action  in  Parliament.  Another  contemporaneous  act 
clearly  evinces  the  spirit  of  the  people.  It  was  a  sort  of  Magna 
Charta  (from  which,  indeed,  many  of  its  clauses  were  copied), 


1^6  THE   ENGLISH    IN'AMERICA. 

and  recited  at  length  their  various  rights  and  privileges  ;  among 
others  they  failed  not  to  insist  upon  the  following  :  "  No  aid,  tax, 
taillage,  assessment,  custom,  loan,  benevolence,  or  imposition 
whatever,  shall  be  laid,  assessed,  imposed,  or  levied,  on  any  of 
their  Majesty's  subjects  or  estates,  on  any  pretense  whatsoever, 
but  by  the  aid  and  consent  of  the  Governor,  Council,  and  Repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  assembled  in  General  Court."  This  law, 
on  the  advice  of  Lord  Chief  Justice  Holt,  was  disallowed  by  the 
king,  because  it  contained  what  none  of  his  predecessors  had  ever 
conferred.  A  criminal  code  was  also  compiled,  and  passed  by  the 
Legislature,  that  was  in  the  same  manner  disapproved,  since  it 
was  thought  to  have  been  borrowed  too  much  from  the  Jewish 
system  to  be  consistent  with  the  jurisprudence  of  England.  An- 
other law,  "for  securing  the  liberty  of  the  subject,"  by  extending 
the  Habeas  Corpus  Act,  was  rejected,  as  Somers  and  other  Whigs 
insisted  it  had  not  yet  been  extended  to  the  colonies.  Few  of  the 
acts  of  that  session,  had  the  good  fortune  to  please  the  statesmen 
of  England,  since  they  thought  it  of  importance  to  oppose  the  pro- 
gress of  any  innovation. 

In  the  first  House  convened  under  the  new  charter,  a  broad 
line  of  demarcation  was  observable  among  the  representatives ; 
the  friends  of  British  connection  and  Loyalists  on  the  one  hand, 
honest  Republicans,  unprincipled  demagogues,  and  bigoted  secta- 
rians on  the  other.  Such  as  were  for  limiting  the  prerogative, 
securing  the  dependence  of  the  governor,  and  maintaining  the  su- 
premacy of  the  colonial  Legislature,  naturally  won  the  hearts 
of  the  people,  and  received  their  confidence  in.  proportion  to  their 
zeal ;  while  those  who  thought  rights  and  duties  reciprocal,  saw 
no  danger  in  a  limited  monarchy,  and  were  attached  from  princi- 
ple and  feeling  to  the  parent  country,  subjected  themselves  to 
the  reproach  of  cowardice,  obsequiousness,  and  self-interested  mo- 
tives. 

To  the  same  period  may  be  traced  that  favorite  but  fatal  poli- 
cy of  the  Home  Government,  of  attempting  to  concilitate  those 
in  opposition,  at  the  expense  of  the  feelings,  the  rights,  and  just 
claims  of  its  true  friends  ;  of  refusing  reasonable  concessions,  until 
compelled  by  popular  movement  to  grant  more  than  was  at  first 
demanded,  whereby  the  grace  of  justice  or  liberality  was  merged 
in  the  triumph  of  a  forced  surrender,  and  of  treating  both  classes 
with  an  indifference  or  contempt,  that  aroused  the  implacable 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  227 

anger  of  the  one,  and  damped  the  ardor,  and  chilled  the  affections 
of  the  other.  Republican  disloyalty  can  never  be  softened  or 
won  by  kindness,  which  it  always  ascribes  to  weakness,  or  de- 
mands as  a  right ;  though  it  may  be  strengthened  by  ineffectual 
resistance,  or  the  withdrawal  of  salutary  restraints  :  and  the 
most  devoted  loyalty  will  perish  at  last,  under  injuries  or  neglect. 
There  is  a  rectitude  and  majesty  in  justice  that  makes  it  respect- 
ed by  all ;  and  every  class  is  equally  entitled  to  share  in  its  ben- 
efits. When  it  is  duly  administered,  none  have  a  right  to  com- 
plain ;  but  when  that  duty  is  once  performed,  long  tried  friend- 
ships and  faithful  services  have  the  first  claim  upon  a  grateful 
remembrance,  and  should  receive  the  countenance  and  reward  to 
which  they  are  entitled.  To  buy  off"  our  enemies  is  a  fatal  poli- 
cy ;  it  adds  to  their  resources  in  the  same  proportion  that  it 
weakens  our  own,  and  necessarily  leads  to  new  and  insolent  de- 
mands. It  is  better  to  arm  and  discipline  our  friends,  and  resist 
aggression  at  once,  as  promptitude  and  energy  may  crush  it  for- 
ever. But  to  give  rebels  the  advantage  of  a  fair  struggle  in  the 
field,  and  when  they  are  defeated,  to  remunerate  them  for  the 
losses  they  have  sustained,  as  was  recently  the  case  in  Canada, 
exposes  a  government  to  the  grief  or  indignation  of  its  friends, 
and  the  inexpressible  ridicule  or  contempt  of  its  enemies. 

Besides  the  formation  of  the  two  parties,  loyalists  and  patriots, 
above  referred  to,  whose  descendants  still  distract  the  remaining 
colonies  with  their  contentions,  the  short  administration  of  Sir 
William  Phipps  contains  one  or  two  instructive  lessons,  as  to  the 
effect  of  the  previous  republicanism  upon  the  people.  The  ap- 
pointment of  a  governor  by  the  Crown,  was  the  most  dbnoxious 
part  of  the  charter,  and  although  Phipps  was  a  native,  and  a  fa- 
vorite of  the  Puritan  divines,  the  Mathers,  who  in  fact  elected 
him  themselves  for  the  office,  he  was  made  to  feel  that  in  accept- 
ing it,  he  ceased  to  be  regarded  as  a  colonist.  Among  the  asso- 
ciated agents,  who  had  negotiated  with  the  British  Government 
for  the  new  patent,  was  a  violent  republican  of  the  name  of 
Cook,  who  advocated  obstruction  on  all  occasions  to  the  king's 
representative  ;  "  as  the  appointment  of  an  obnoxious  ruler,"  he 
remarked,  "would  make  the  people  rise,"  a  memorable  saying, 
which  made  a  powerful  impression  on  the  public  mind.  He  also 
counseled  them,  "  to  establish  no  officer's  salary,  and  to  perpetuate 
no  public  revenue,"  advice  which  was  found  too  serviceable  to  thei 


228  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

cause  to  be  neglected  for  a  moment.  It  soon  became  a  settled 
maxim  of  colonial  policy,  and  was  adopted  throughout  the 
provinces.  They  now  no  longer  feared  the  English,  as  the  char- 
ter had  confirmed  so  many  of  their  usurpations,  but  they  heartily 
despised  them  ;  for  such  was  the  venality  of  the  Whigs,  that  pro- 
vincial politicians  made  no  scruple  of  openly  asserting  "  that  any 
thing  could  be  obtained  at  Whitehall  for  money." 

So  far  as  Phipps  was  concerned,  he  found  his  commission  a 
service  productive  of  no  emolument,  but  of  great  labor  and  re- 
sponsibility. How  widely  different  is  the  situation  of  governor 
now.  They  have  arrived  at  the  other  extreme,  having  large 
salaries,  and  nothing  whatever  to  do,  but  to  affix  their  signatures 
to  the  acts  of  their  executives.  Phipps  could  never  prevail  upon 
them  to  establish  a  salary  for  him,  although  they  gave  him  a 
gratuity,  to  make  him  feel  his  dependence,  and  to  induce  him  to 
connive  at  their  usurpations,  and  their  evasions  of  the  laws  of 
trade.  In  obstructing  the  custom  house  officers,  he  committed 
acts  that  occasioned  his  recall.  He  was  a  man  of  mean  extraction, 
vulgar  manners,  and  little  or  no  education ;  his  early  years  having 
been  spent  in  the  hardy  occupation  of  a  shepherd,  on  the  bleak 
and  barren  hills  of  his  native'land,  in  Maine  ;  and  his  frame  sub- 
sequently strengthened  by  the  laborious  employment  of  a  ship- 
carpenter  in  Boston.  Having  accidentally  discovered  the  wreck 
of  a  Spanish  treasure-ship,  he  allured  King  James  into  a  joint 
adventure  for  searching  for  the  cargo.  A  frigate  was  accordingly 
placed  at  his  disposal  by  the  Govornor  of  Jamaica,  and  his  divers 
were  so  expert,  that  he  fished  up  several  thousand  pounds'  worth 
of  gold.  The  king  was  astonished  and  delighted  with  his  suc- 
cessful speculation,  and  in  return  for  his  large  share  of  the  profits, 
honored  him  with  knighthood,  and  a  patronage  that  in  a  subse- 
quent reign  procured  for  him  the  government  of  the  colony.  The 
manners  of  early  life,  however,  are  neither  ameliorated  nor  oblit- 
erated by  the  sudden  acquision  of  wealth  ;  and  as  his  arm  was  more 
powerful  than  his  reason,  he  never  failed  to  resort  to  its  use  to 
enforce  his  arguments  or  his  orders  upon  his  subordinate  officers. 
His  attacks  on  his  enemies,  as  a  military  man,  were  less  success- 
ful than  his  assaults  on  his  officials  in  the  street,  in  which  his 
victories,  by  exciting  complaints,  compelled  him  to  go  to  England, 
to  vindicate  his  conduct.  He  died  soon  after  his  arrival,  or  his 
name  would  doubtless  have  been  found  in  the  long  list  of  colonial 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  229 

rulers,  to  which  I  have  already  alluded,  whose  unfitness  for  gov- 
erning has  presented  no  obstacle  to  their  preferment. 

The  Legislature  of  New  York  followed  in  the  footsteps  of 
Massachusetts,  so  contagious  is  bad  example,  and  passed  an  act, 
declaring  its  inalienable  rights,  &c.,  which  met  with  a  similar 
reception  in  England,  and  was  disallowed.  At  the  same  time  a 
similar  scene  took  place  in  Connecticut,  that  exhibits  in  a  very 
striking  light  the  determination  of  the  people  to  submit  to  no 
interference  whatever.  For  the  purpose  of  insuring  more  unity 
of  action  in  the  event  of  invasion,  Governor  Fletcher,  of  New 
York,  was  vested  with  plenary  powers  of  commanding  the  whole 
militia  of  Connecticut,  and  insisted  on  the  exercise  of  that  com- 
mand ;  the  Legislature,  knowing  that  authority  to  be  expressly 
given  to  the  colony  by  charter,  would  not  submit  to  his  requisition, 
but  desirous  of  effecting  a  compromise,  sent  an  agent  to  New 
York  to  make  an  arrangement,  until  his  Majesty's  pleasure  should 
be  further  known.  No  terms,  however,  could  be  made  with  the 
governor,  short  of  an  implicit  obedience  of  the  militia  to  his  au- 
thority. On  the  26th  of  October,  he  came  to  Hartford,  while  the 
Assembly  was  sitting,  and  in  his  Majesty's  name  demanded  sub- 
mission. The  Assembly  resolutely  persisted  in  a  refusal.  After 
the  requisition  had  been  repeatedly  made,  with  plausible  explana- 
tions, and  serious  menaces,  Fletcher  ordered  his  commission  and 
instructions  to  be  read  to  the  train-bands  of  Hartford,  which  had 
prudently  assembled  on  the  occasion.  Wadsworth,  the  senior 
officer,  who  was  at  that  moment  exercising  them,  instantly  or- 
dered the  drums  to  beat,  which  in  a  moment  overwhelmed  every 
voice ;  the  governor  then  commanded  silence,  but  no  sooner  was 
a  second  attempt  made  to  read,  than  Wadsworth  vociferated  the 
same  order  to  the  drummers,  who  instantly  beat  up  again  with 
redoubled  energy.  At  the  first  pause  he  called  out  again : 
"  Drum,  drum,"  and  turning  to  his  Excellency,  said  :  "  If  I  am 
interrupted  again,  sir,  I  will  make  the  sun  shine  through  you  in 
a  moment."  To  avoid  personal  outrage  he  was  obliged  to  return 
to  New  York,  when,  to  his  infinite  mortification,  he  was  soon 
after  informed,  by  the  crown  lawyers  of  England,  that  the  control 
of  the  militia  legally  belonged  to  the  colony,  as  Charles  II.  had 
divested  himself,  by  his  reckless  grant,  of  every  particle  of  authority 
whatever. 

The  effects  of  the  recent  political  changes  in  England  were 


230  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

visible  all  over  the  Anglo-American  continent.  In  addition  ta 
the  instances  of  intractability,  just  referred  to,  even  Pennsylvania, 
though  opposed  to  carnal,  was  willing  to  indulge  in  political  con- 
flicts, and  bartered  her  money  for  the  support  of  government,  "on 
the  express  condition  of  settling  the  people  in  their  former  consti- 
tution." Maryland,  more  obedient  than  many  others,  still  re- 
solved, "  that  the  great  charter  of  England  should  be  observed  in 
all  points."  Two  new  doctrines  were  promulgated,  and  found 
willing  advocates  every  where,  one  (which  originated  with  a 
Puritan  minister  of  Boston)  was  :  "  That  they  were  not  bound  in 
conscience  to  obey  English  laws,  as  they  were  not  represented  in 
Parliament :"  the  other  was :  "  That  colonists  were  as  much 
Englishmen,  as  the  inhabitants  of  that  country ;  and  therefore 
had  a  right  to  all  the  same  privileges." 

The  misconduct  of  Phipps  and  other  governors,  in  conniving  at 
the  evasion  of  the  laws  of  trade,  brought  about  at  this  period  some 
very  important  changes.  Complaints  were  constantly  made  to 
the  ministry  by  governors  who  were  unable  to  execute  their  or- 
ders, and  by  merchants  whose  commerce  was  injured  by  the  total 
disregard  of  the  colonists  to  the  Navigation  Acts.  "  During  the 
war,"  says  Davenant,  "  the  colonies  have  presumed,  as  it  were, 
to  set  up  for  themselves,  and  to  load  their  effects  on  board  of  ships 
belonging  to  foreigners,  and  to  trade  directly  with  other  nations  ; 
sending  them  their  commodities,  and  receiving  from  thence  manu- 
factures, to  the  great  damage  of  this  kingdom."  To  meet  the 
exigencies  of  the  times,  the  Board  of  Trade  was  established  in 
1696,  of  which  the  celebrated  Locke  was  a  member.  This  was 
a  permanent  commission,  consisting  of  a  president  and  eleven 
members,  known  as  "Lords  of  Trade,"  who  succeeded  to  the 
authority  and  oversight  hitherto  exercised  by  plantation-com- 
mittees of  the  Privy  Council.  Subsequently  the  powers  of  this 
Board  were  somewhat  curtailed,  but  down  to  the  period  of  the 
American  Revolution,  it  continued  to  exercise  a  general  superin- 
tendence of  the  colonies,  watching  the  Assemblies  with  a  jealous 
eye,  struggling  hard  to  uphold  the  prerogatives  of  the  king  and 
authority  of  Parliament,  laboring  to  strengthen  the  hands  of  the 
royal  governors,  and  systematically  to  carry  out  the  policy  of 
rendering  America  completely  subservient  to  the  views  which  then 
prevailed  of  the  commercial  interests  of  the  mother  country. 

Parliament  devoted  a  large  portion  of  its  sittings  that  year  to 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  231 

American  affairs.  The  House  of  Lords  represented  to  the  king 
that,  "  Having  considered  the  state  of  the  trade  of  this  kingdom 
to  the  plantations,  they  had  found  many  abuses  of  the  several 
good  laws  made  for  their  government,  and  very  illegal  practices 
carried  on,  to  the  great  detriment  of  the  kingdom,  whereby  the 
act  lately  passed  had  been  greatly  obstructed  ;"  they  recom- 
mended therefore,  "  That  the  proprietaries  should  be  obliged  to 
give  security  in  England,  that  their  governors  shall  constantly 
obey  the  royal  instructions  for  the  execution  of  the  laws ;  and  that 
courts  of  admiralty  should  be  erected  in  the  various  plantations, 
in  order  that  offenses  against  the  laws  of  navigation  might  be  no 
longer  decided  by  judges  and  jurors,  who  were  themselves  often 
the  greatest  offenders."  The  proprietaries  declined  to  give  the 
security  demanded  of  them,  which  they  thought  no  law  required  ; 
the  resolution  of  the  peers,  they  considered,  could  not,  however 
respectable,  compel  them  to  perform  what  they  deemed  in  itself 
unreasonable,  as  their  sovereign  had  the  power  of  withholding  his 
approbation  from  their  appointments,  and  they  pleaded  their 
charters,  in  opposition  to  the  royal  nomination  of  admiralty 
officers.  Having  heard  their  counsel,  the  crown  lawyers  determ- 
ined that  no  colonial  patent  prevented  the  king  from  establish- 
ing an  admiralty  jurisdiction  within  every  dominion  of  the  crown. 
The  right  of  appeal  from  the  colonial  courts  to  the  king  in  council 
was  also  sustained,  and  by  this  double  means  the  mother  country 
acquired  at  length  a  judicial  control  over  the  colonies,  and  with 
it  a  power,  afterward  imitated  in  the  Federal  Constitution  of  the 
United  States,  of  bringing  her  authority  to  bear  not  only  upon 
the  colonies  as  political  corporations  but,  what  was  much  more 
effectual,  upon  the  colonists  as  individuals. 

By  a  contemporaneous  act  of  Parliament,  the  various  statutes 
for  carrying  the  acts  of  trade  into  effect  were  consolidated,  and 
new  and  more  stringent  provisions  were  added.  Any  direct  trade 
between  Ireland  and  the  plantations  was  totally  prohibited,  that 
country  being  put,  in  this  respect,  in  a  worse  position  than  any  in 
the  world.  The  pretense  was,  that  if  trade  of  any  sort  was 
allowed,  it  would  be  made  a  cover  for  smuggling  innumerable 
articles.  An  oath  to  enforce  the  acts  of  trade  was  imposed  upon 
the  governors  of  the  chartered  colonies,  their  appointment  also 
was  made  subject  to  the  royal  approval ;  all  colonial  statutes  or 
usages  conflicting  with  acts  of  trade,  past  or  future,  were  declared 


<!32  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

void.  The  same  powers  were  conferred  on  the  king's  revenue 
officers  in  America,  which  they  possessed  in  England  ;  their 
number  was  increased,  and  at  their  head  was  placed,  as  surveyor- 
general,  the  active  and  persevering  Randolph,  so  conspicuous 
formerly  in  the  history  of  Massachusetts. 

Free  trade  soon  made  freebooters,  who  found  (with  the  honor- 
able exception  of  Maryland)  shelter  for  their  ships,  and  provisions 
for  themselves  every  where,  among  a  sanctimonious  people,  who 
while  they  piteously  sighed  over  their  offensive  occupation, 
encouraged  it  by  purchasing  their  plunder,  and  it  was  with  great 
difficulty  and  expense  that  piracy  was  finally  suppressed. 

After  a  long  interval,  in  which  the  deputy  and  lieutenant- 
governors  administered  the  affairs  of  the  state,  Lord  Bellamont 
arrived  at  Boston,  and  was  duly  sworn  into  office.  He  also  had 
the  mortification  to  find  that  he  had  no  fixed  salary,  and  that  his 
official  income  depended  upon  an  annual  vote  in  the  Legislature, 
a  humiliating  position  that  opened  a  door  to  constant  annoyances, 
and  enabled  the  two  Houses  to  make  it  his  interest  to  neglect  his 
duty,  by  starving  him  into  submission.  In  the  subsequent  ad- 
ministrations, it  became  the  rallying  point  for  the  two  contending 
parties  of  Patriots  and  Loyalists,  and  excited  contentions,  in 
which  the  authority  of  the  Crown  was  gradually  weakened,  and 
its  dignity  greatly  diminished.  He  experienced,  however,  no 
difficulty  on  this  subject  himself,  and  as  there  was  but  little  that 
occurred  in  his  time,  bearing  on  the  subject  of  this  inquiry,  we 
might  dismiss  him,  with  this  short  notice.  But  he  was  a  man  in 
advance  of  the  age'in  which  he  lived,  and  we  may  spare  a 
moment  to  pause  and  admire  him. 

He  was  a  true  specimen  of  a  great  liberal  governor.  He  made 
the  most  of  his  rank  by  his  great  condescension  and  suavity  of 
manner ;  he  was  accessible  at  all  times,  and  affable  and  courteous 
on  all  occasions.  Although  an  Episcopalian,  he  professed  to 
entertain  most  tolerant  opinions  on  the  subject  of  dissent,  and  a 
special  respect  for  Congregational  churches,  and  their  pastors,  and 
above  all  a  most  pious  horror  of  Popery.  He  avoided  any  thing 
like  controversy  with  individuals,  or  either  branch  of  the  Legisla- 
ture, and  what  he  could  not  obtain  by  address,  he  refused  to 
secure  by  compulsion.  He  attended  the  weekly  lectures  at  the 
principal  conventicle,  and  listened  with  the  utmost  attention,  and 
evident  edification,  to  the  long,  confused,  and  prosy  compositions 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  233 

of  the  divines.  On  one  occasion,  when  returning  from  a  self- 
imposed  penance  of  this'kind,  he  thus  addressed  an  apothecary, 
whom  he  saw  standing  near  the  door  of  his  dispensary — "  Oh  ! 
doctor,  you  have  lost  a  precious  sermon  to-day."  "  Yes,  my 
lord,"  was  the  equivocal  reply ;  "  I  have,  but  if  I  could  get  only 
half  as  much  by  being  there  as  your  lordship  will,  I  should  have 
attended  also."  This  double  entendre  deserved  and  received  a 
most  gracious  smile  of  approbation. 

He  was  the  first  governor,  who,  in  imitation  of  the  Lord 
Lieutenant  of  Ireland,  opened  the  Legislature  by  delivering  a 
formal  written  address.  It  was  a  novelty,  and  as  such  not  likely 
to  be  acceptable  to  a  people  who  disliked  all  innovation  on  their 
established  forms ;  but  while  it  well  comported  with  his  dignity, 
it  conferred  additional  weight  and  importance  on  themselves,  and 
was  therefore  approved.  He  knew  how  much  the  family  of  the 
Stuarts  was  dreaded  and  hated  in  New  England,  and  how 
acceptable  a  censure  upon  them  and  their  principles  would  be. 
His  first  and  last  speech  was  filled  with  pious  horror  at  their 
religion,  and  patriotic  indignation  at  their  arbitrary  conduct. 
His  lordship  was  only  fourteen  months  in  the  province,  when  he 
went  to  New  York.  For  this  short  period  the  Assembly  voted 
£2500,  an  infinitely  larger  sum  than  any  of  his  predecessors  ever 
received,  or  any  of  his  successors  could  obtain,  even  when  the 
inhabitants  were  more  numerous,  and  more  opulent ;  and  money, 
when  compared  with  the  necessaries  of  life,  had  become  less 
valuable.  To  engage  the  attention  in  this  manner  of  the  cold 
and  cautious  Puritans,  and  set  them  gaping  with  wonder  and 
delight,  while  their  pockets  were  emptied  of  their  contents,  was 
a  feat  of  professional  skill,  which  does  equal  honor  to  his  lord- 
ship's dexterity,  and  to  his  sound  liberal  principles. 

The  government  was  now  conferred  upon  Mr.  Dudley,  who 
had  been  the  first  president,  after  the  loss  of  the  charter,  and  who 
thereby  rendered  himself  so  unpopular,  that  when  Sir  Edmund 
Andross,  was  seized  and  sent  to  England,  he  was  also  imprisoned 
and  transported  with  him,  to  take  his  trial.  As  a  governor  of 
Massachusetts,  the  selection  was  unfortunate.  It  was  known 
that  from  fortuitous  circumstances,  he  was  obnoxious  to  his 
countrymen ;  and  the  slightest  knowledge  of  human  nature, 
would  have  suggested  to  the  Ministry,  that  in  a  small  and  isolated 
community  like  Massachusetts,  he  would  have  to  encounter  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

jealousy  of  rivals,  the  hatred  of  party  (when  his  opinions  were  all 
known)  and  the  odium  arising  from  personal  infirmities,  from 
which  no  man  ever  was,  or  can  be  exempt.  As  a  ruler  of  any 
other  American  colony,  no  man  could  be  better  qualified  than  he 
was.  Intimately  acquainted  with  American  feeling  and  preju- 
dices, he  knew  how  to  respect  the  one,  and  how  to  avoid  shocking 
the  other.  He  was  well  informed  as  to  their  wants,  the  re- 
sources, and  the  common  danger  to  which  they  were  all  exposed, 
from  the  Indian  tribes  and  their  French  neighbors.  A  lawyer,  a 
man  of  business  and  talents,  and  above  all  a  colonist,  having  a 
sympathy  with  the  people,  who  were  his  countrymen,  and  an 
affection  for  the  continent  where  his  lot  and  that  of  his  children 
were  cast,  his  interest  was  identified  with  those  on  whom  he  was 
to  exercise  jurisdiction,  while  his  desire  to  serve  the  Crown,  was 
restrained  from  running  into  tyranny  by  the  knowledge  that 
while  he  abrogated  the  rights  of  the  inhabitants,  he  was  restrict- 
ing the  liberty  of  his  own  posterity. 

To  appoint  a  colonist  to  preside  over  his  native  province,  for 
the  reasons  above  stated,  would  at  any  time,  be  a  hazardous  ex- 
periment ;  but  there  is  no  class  of  men  so  competent,  and  so 
desirable  for  those  at  a  distance,  while  at  the  same  time  no  course 
of  policy  could  be  more  conciliatory  and  grateful.  The  experi- 
ment, however,  was  not  doomed  to  be  often  tried.  When  the 
office  became  worth  having,  needy  dependents  at  home  found  that 
family  connection  or  parliamentary  interest,  was  a  better  recom- 
mendation than  experience  or  ability,  and  politicians  discovered 
that  the  greatest  advantage  of  a  colony,  was  that  it  presented  a 
field  for  patronage. 

The  republican  or  patriot  party,  availing  themselves  of  the  un- 
popularity of  the  governor,  gained  the  ascendency  in  the  Legisla- 
ture. Their  first  step  was  to  choose  a  Speaker  personally  offensive 
to  him,  and  when  he  rejected  him,  to  deny  his  right  under  the 
charter  to  do  so.  By  special  instructions  from  England,  he  laid 
three  commands  of  his  Majesty  before  them.  First,  the  rebuild- 
ing a  fort  in  Maine,  which  had  become  dilapidated ;  second,  the 
erection  of  another  in  the  same  territory,  as  a  check  upon  the 
Indians  and  French ;  and  thirdly,  establishing  fixed  and  suitable 
salaries  on  the  governor,  and  lieutenant-governor,  and  the  judges  ; 
but  they  refused  all  three,  and  the  Council  supported  them  in 
their  contumacy.  With  respect  to  the  last,  they  felt  the  advant- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  235 

age  they  had  over  those  officers,  and  were  determined  to  maintain 
it.  They  had  lost  the  power  of  appointing  them,  and  were 
resolved  to  render  their  situations  of  as  little  value  as  possible. 
The  Ministry,  on  the  other  hand,  with  a  neglience  or  timidity 
that  it  is  difficult  to  comprehend,  suffered  this  degrading  subject 
of  annual  discussion  to  be  continued.  The  Assembly  accordingly 
voted  very  small  sums  for  the  year  for*this  purpose,  and  reduced 
the  proportion  appropriated  to  the  representative  of  royalty  to  the 
smallest  amount  possible. 

The  Patriot  party  were  predetermined  on  every  species  of  an- 
noyance in  their  power,  and  when  so  unjust  a  feeling  exists, 
scruples  as  to  the  means  are  seldom  found  to  be  any  effectual  im- 
pediment. A  small  vessel  had  been  sent  with  a  flag  of  truce  to 
Nova  Scotia,  for  the  exchange  of  prisoners,  and  after  a  protracted 
voyage  returned  with  only_  seventeen ;  and  being  again  ordered 
on  the  same  duty,  procured  the  release  of  seven  more.  It  was 
immediately  whispered  about  the  country,  that  the  ill  success 
of  the  application,  and  the  unusual  length  of  time  spent  in  the 
negotiation,  was  owing  to  the  captain  having,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  flag  of  truce,  been  engaged  in  trading  with  the  enemy, 
and  furnishing  them  with  supplies — the  governor  not  only  being 
privy  to  it,  but  participating  in  the  profits.  The  House  imme- 
diately voted  that  it  was  a  fit  subject  for  parliamentary  inquiry, 
as  the  Supreme  Court  had  no  jurisdiction  in  such  a  case,  and  put 
the  master,  and  five  other  persons  supposed  to  be  implicated,  upon 
their  trial,  and  thereby  placed  his  Excellency  in  the  dilemma 
they  so  much  desired.  If  he  should  interfere  to  stop  their  pro- 
ceedings, the  inference  would  naturally  be  drawn  by  the  whole 
province  that  he  was  a  particeps  criminis  ;  and  if  he  suffered  the 
inquiry  to  proceed,  it  was  possible  some  of  the  prisoners,  to  save 
themselves,  might  be  induced  to  join  in  an  accusation  against  him. 
There  was  as  little  evidence  against  the  parties  charged  with 
treason,  as  there  was  ground  for  supposing  the  governor  had  any 
knowledge,  or  even  suspicion,  of  their  harboring  such  a  design. 
They  were  all,  however,  found  guilty.  The  captain  was  fined 
twelve  hundred  pounds,  and  incapacitated  from  ever  holding  office 
in  the  colony.  It  was  even  proposed  to  compel  him  to  sit  on  the 
gallows  for  an  hour  with  a  rope  round  his  neck,  but  this  igno- 
minious part  of  the  punishment  was  afterward  withdrawn.  The 
fines  imposed  on  the  others  were  equally  excessive.  Six  laws 


236  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

were  then  drawn  up  to  legalize  these  measures,  and  passed  with 
as  little  delay  as  possible,  but  were  all  very  properly  disallowed 
in  England;  and  this  infamous  act  of  oppression,  and  the  cruel 
and  wicked  insinuations  against  the  governor,  confirmed  and 
strengthened,  rather  than  impaired,  his  influence  with  the  Minis- 
try. To  the  contumacy  of  the  House  was  added  the  insolencfi 
of  the  preachers,  who  endeavored  to  recover  their  lost  popularity 
with  the  Patriots  by  warmly  espousing  their  cause,  and  lending 
the  weight  of  their  names  to  foment  the  general  discontent.  To 
promote  this  object  they  ridiculed  the  governor,  in  their  public 
ministrations,  their  intercourse  with  the  people,  and  printed 
pamphlets,  and  annoyed  him  with  the  most  abusive  and  insolent 
letters.* 

The  object  of  this  part  of  the  work,  as  we  have  seen,  is  to  show 
that  for  the  first  half  century  after  its  settlement,  Massachusetts, 
to  all  intents  and  purposes,  was  a  republic ;  that  when  it  was 
subsequently  merged  into  a  government  in  which  royalty  had 
some  share,  that  small  portion  was  never  submitted  to  willingly, 
and  was  only  permitted  to  exist  until  the  people  were  able  to  ex- 
tinguish it  altogether.  In  selecting  such  portions  of  the  annals 

*  In  the  third  volume  of  the  "  Massachusetts  Historical  Collections"  are  pre- 
served some  extraordinary  specimens  of  the  latter,  written  by  Increase  and 
Cotton  Mather.  The  governor  replied  to  these  meddling  divines  with  becoming 
spirit,  as  will  be  seen  by  the  following  extract : 

"  Roxbnrg,  February  3,  1707-8. 

"  GENTLEMEN'. — Yours  of  the  20th  instant  I  received,  and  the  contents,  both 
as  to  matter  and  manner,  astonish  me  to  the  last  degree.  I  must  think  you 
have  extremely  forgotten  your  own  station,  as  well  as  my  character ;  otherwise 
it  had  been  impossible  to  have  made  such  an  open  breach  upon  all  the  laws  of 
decency,  honor,  justice,  and  Christianity,  as  you  have  done  in  treating  me  with 
an  air  of  contempt  and  superiority,  which  would  have  been  greatly  culpable 
toward  a  Christian  of  the  lowest  orders,  and  is  insufferably  rude  toward  one 
whom  Divine  Providence  has  honored  with  the  character  of  your  govemor. 

"  In  many  of  the  matters  of  fact  you  labor  under  great  mistakes,  which  have 
been  taken  up  with  great  credulity ;  and  indeed  you  have  raked  together  what- 
ever has  been  imputed  to  me  these  many  years,  either  through  prejudice  or 
mistake,  and  seem  to  think  the  bruit  of  a  town  a  sufficient  foundation  to  build  a 
charge  on.  As  to  some  other  things  contained  in  your  charge,  I  can  not  esteem 
you  competent  judges.  The  articles  are  so  many  contained  in  your  letters,  that 
it  would  be  endless  to  labor  your  satisfaction  by  writing,  which  you  must  not 
further  expect  from  me.  In  the  mean  time  I  expect  you,  as  subjects  of  the 
dueeu,  as  Christians,  as  messengers  of  the  gospel  of  peace,  to  lay  aside  all 
methods  to  blov?  up  sedition,  or  abet  such  criminal  reports  of  maladministration 
as  tend  to  debauch  the  mmds  of  her  Majesty's  good  subjects  of  this  province  from 
their  duty  and  allegiance." 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  237 

of  this  period  as  illustrate  this  position,  it  is  somewhat  difficult  to 
decide  what  shall  be  brought  forward  and  what  rejected.  To  go 
at  large  into  the  investigation,  would  be  to  write  a  history  of  New 
England  :  to  preserve  so  much  only  as  is  necessary  to  support  the 
theory,  necessarily  gives  the  narrative  somewhat  of  a  disjointed 
appearance.  It  is  an  evil,  however,  incident  to  the  inquiry  ;  and 
it  would  seem  on  the  whole  better,  perhaps,  to  err  on  the  side  of 
brevity,  than  to  overload  the  work  with  particulars,  that  may 
weary  the  reader  with  their  minuteness,  or  are  too  provincial  to 
interest  his  attention. 

The  governor  retained  his  office  for  about  fourteen  years,  or 
until  the  accession  of  George  I.,  when  he  was  superseded,  by  the 
appointment  of  Colonel  Shute,  an  experienced  officer,  who  had 
served  under  William  III.  and  the  Duke  of  Marlborough.  Mr. 
Dudley's  firmness,  attention  to  business,  impartiality,  and  general 
information,  made  him  a  most  useful,  and  latterly  a  respected 
governor;  and  had  he  been  employed  any  where  else  but  in  his 
native  province,  he  would  doubtless  have  been  held  up  as  a 
model  for  the  imitation  of  others.  Colonel  Shute  was  soon  found 
to  be  deficient  in  the  constitutional  information,  prudent  firmness, 
and  tact  that  distinguished  his  predecessor,  and  the  republican 
party  obtained  an  easy  victory  over  him. 

One  of  the  first  steps  taken  by  the  House,  in  order  to  carry 
out  their  chartered  rights  to  the  fullest  extent,  was  to  pass  an  act 
imposing  a  tonnage  duty  on  English  shipping,  and  a  tax  on  the 
importation  of  British  and  West  India  productions,  which,  being 
incautiously  assented  to  by  the  governor,  drew  down  upon  him  a 
reprimand  from  the  king.  Notwithstanding  this  well  known 
fact,  they  sent  the  same  bill  to  the  Council  the  following  year, 
which  caused  some  acrimonious  discussion.  In  1720  they  elected 
for  their  Speaker  a  person  with  whom  they  knew  the  governor 
had  had  a  serious  rupture,  in  order  to  irritate  and  annoy  him. 
This  choice  he  declined  to  confirm ;  and  as  they  persisted  in 
refusing  (nem.  con.)  to  proceed  to  a  new  election,  he  dissolved 
them.  At  their  next  meeting  they  evaded  a  renewal  of  the 
contest  on  this  point,  but  sent  him  a  remonstrance  on  the  sub- 
ject of  his  veto,  re-asserting  their  right,  and  concluding  with 
these  words :  "  And  we  earnestly  hope  and  desire  that  the  prov- 
ince may  never  have  an  Assembly  that  will  willingly  forego  such 
a  valuable  privilege,  as  King  William  and  Queen  Mary  of  ever 


238  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

blessed  memory  graciously  favored  the  province  with,  when  they 
gave  their  royal  assent  to  a  law  directing  and  governing  the 
affairs." 

Their  next  step  was  to  insist  upon  the  local  appointment  of  all 
notaries,  who  had  hitherto  received  their  commission  from  the 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury ;  and,  to  manifest  their  repugnance  to 
even  the  appearance  of  royal  authority,  they  resolved  that  for 
the  future  no  public  money  should  be  expended  at  times  of  public 
rejoicings,  which  was  intended  to  embrace  such  events  as  the 
king's  birth-day,  accession,  coronation,  and  similar  occasions. 
They  then  reduced  the  governor's  salary,  notwithstanding  it  had 
already  been  greatly  diminished  by  the  depreciated  state  of  the 
currency.  In  the  mean  time  their  resistance  to  the  prerogative, 
and  stout  maintenance  of  the  assumed  rights,  became  so  popular, 
that  at  their  next  session  they  passed  a  resolution  for  going  to  war 
with  the  Indians,  for  raising  troops  for  the  purpose,  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  sheriff  to  accompany  them,  and  also  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  inspectors,  with  power  to  visit  forts,  muster  the  soldiers, 
and  so  on,  without  the  concurrence  of  the  English  aristocrat,  as  they 
called  the  governor. 

In  the  session  of  1721  the  governor,  by  instructions  from  home, 
recommended  them  to  adopt  five  different  measures  of  pressing 
importance,  among  which  wa^s  one  to  make  permanent  provision 
for  the  support  of  the  king's  representative  and  the  judges,  to 
all  of  which  they  returned  him  a  distinct  refusal.  Their  next 
attempt  at  an  invasion  of  the  prerogative,  was  an  endeavor  to 
induce  the  Council  to  join  them  in  issuing  a  proclamation  for  the 
observance  of  a  fast,  and  thereby  anticipate  the  governor,  and 
supersede  his  authority.  The  Council  declined  to  concur  with 
them,  alleging  that  they  could -find  no  precedent  to  justify  them, 
to  which  they  replied,  "  that  if  such  things  had  not  the  sanction 
of  the  whole  Court,  people  would  not  be  liable  to  punishment  for 
disobedience."  His  Excellency  desirous  of  maintaining,  if  possi- 
ble, a  good  understanding  with  them,  as  far  as  was  compatible 
with  his  responsibility  to  the  Crown,  deviated  from  his  usual 
course,  and  inserted  in  his  proclamation  the  words,  "  by  and  with 
the  advice  of  his  Council,  and  upon  a  motion  of  the  House  of 
Representatives."  But  republican  feeling  and  prejudice  are  not 
easily  conciliated  by  royal  condescension.  Courtesy  is  a  term 
not  understood  where  the  power  is  all  on  one  side  ;  unconditional 


THE    EiNGLlSH    IN    AMERICA.  239 

surrender  and  submission  are  the  only  admissible  terms.  The 
House  refused  to  join  in  any  compromise,  and  not  only  declared 
that  they  never  had  made  any  such  motion,  but  expressly  ordered 
their  members  not  to  promulgate  any  copies  of  the  mandate 
among  their  respective  constituencies. 

The  people  now  adopted  the  views  of  their  delegates,  and  the 
advice  of  their  clergy,  and  returned  the  same  members  to  the 
next  house,  with  strict  injunctions  to  reduce  the  "  foreign  despot" 
to  a  mere  nullity.  They  again  elected  for  Speaker  the  same 
man  whom  he  had  before  negatived,  and  to  prevent  him  from 
having  the  opportunity  of  expressing  his  disapprobation,  altered 
the  form  of  the  message,  and  addressed  it  to  Governor  and  Council 
jointly,  informing  them  that  they  had  chosen  their  Speaker,  <ind 
were  now  ready  to  proceed  to  business.'  His  Excellency,  who 
had  some  skillful  advisers  about  him,  affected  to  misunderstand 
their  meaning,  and  assuming  that  they  thereby  admitted  his 
right,  and  requested  his  approbation,  much  to  their  surprise,  in- 
formed them  that  he  confirmed  their  election. 

Many  minor  acts  occurred,  evincing  the  same  spirit  of  encroach- 
ment and  insubordination.  But  one  is  worthy  of  record,  as  an 
evidence  of  the  untractable  temper  of  the  people,  on  whatever 
side  they  were  ranged.  During  the  prayer,  with  which  their 
proceedings  were  invariably  opened,  it  was  observed  that  an  old 
royalist,  of  the  name  of  Philip  Tabor  sat,  instead  of  standing  up, 
as  was  customary.  Upon  being  asked  by  the  Speaker,  why  lie 
adopted  this  unusual  course,  he  replied,  that  their  conduct  had 
been  so  extraordinary  of  late  that  he  felt  he  could  not  address  his 
Maker  by  the  name  of  "our  Father,"  as  it  was  impossible  he 
could  be  the  parent  of  such  rebellious  children.  The  house 
immediately  resolved  that  "  he  be  expelled,  as  unworthy  to  be  a 
member  thereof."  The  dispute  relative  to  the  governor's  salary 
increased  in  violence  every  year,  until  at  last  they  refused  to  con- 
sider the  vote  at  all,  until  after  the  period  elapsed  for  his  signify- 
ing his  assent  or  dissent  to  the  bills  they  had  already  passed. 
They  also  adjourned  themselves  for  a  week,  for  which  they  were 
again  dissolved. 

At  the  following  session  they  chose  the  same  obnoxious  Speaker, 
and  sent  a  message  to  the  governor,  informing  him  of  it.  He  re- 
turned them  a  written  approval  of  their  selection,  but  the  House 
.informed  him,  they  had  merely  given  him  the  notice  out  of  re- 


\ 


240  THE   ENGLISH    IX    AMERICA. 

spect,  but  that  they  did  not  require  his  sanction.  In.  the  mean- 
time, the  opinion  of  the  Attorney-general  of  England,  in  favor 
of  the  governor's  right  to  veto  the  appointment  of  a  Speaker, 
and  the  approbation  of  the  Lords  Commissioners  of  Trade  of  the 
governor's  conduct,  having  arrived,  he  laid  them  before  the  As- 
sembly ;  but  they  were  unwilling  to  be  bound  by  them.  They 
prepared  a  remonstrance,  in  which  they  justified  their  conduct, 
and  that  of  the  other  Assemblies,  in  this  matter,  and  declared, 
that  with  all  due  deference  to  so  high  a  legal  authority,  they  still 
claimed,  and  insisted  on  their  right  of  solely  electing  and  constitu- 
ting their  Speaker.  The  salary  of  the  governor  was  still  further 
reduced  to  one  hundred  and  eighty  pounds  sterling,  for  the  half 
year,  although  his  instructions  required  him  to  insist  on  a  perma- 
nent provision  of  one  thousand  per  annum  ;  while  a  continual 
system  of  encroachment  on  the  prerogative  was  ingeniously  but 
perseveringly  persisted  in,  until  finding  all  ordinary  and  constitu- 
tional means  fail,  and  having  been  shot  at  in  his  house,  he  sud- 
denly embarked  for  England,  and  formally  lodged  a  complaint 
against  the  Assembly,  under  seven  distinct  heads. 

1.  "In  their  behavior  with  respect  to  the  trees  reserved  for 
masts  for  the  Royal  Navy. 

2.  "  For  refusing  to  admit  the  governor's  negative  upon  the 
choice  of  a  Speaker. 

3.  "  Assuming  power  in  the  appointment  of  days  of  fasting  and 
thanksgiving. 

4.  "Adjourning  themselves   to  a  distant  day,  by  their  own 
act. 

5.  ''  Dismantling  forts,  and  directing  the  artillery  and  warlike 
stores  to  other  than  the  custody  of  the  Captain-general,  or  his 
order. 

6.  "  Suspending  military  officers,  and  refusing  their  pay. 

7.  "  Appointing  committees  of  their  own  to  direct  and  muster 
his  Majesty's  forces." 

An  explanatory  charter  was  the  consequence  of  these  com- 
plaints, expressly  conferring  the  right  to  negative  the  choice  of 
a  Speaker,  and  limiting  the  power  of  the  House  to  adjourn  itself 
to  two  days  at  any  one  time.  But  the  main  objects  in  dispute 
were  left  undecided. 

Preferring  a  pension,  and  retirement  into  private  life,  to  re-as- 
suming the  government  of  a  turbulent  and  factious  people,  Col- 


THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  241 

onel  Shute  very  wisely  relinquished  the  office,  and  remained  in 
England.  Mr.  Burnet,  late  Governor  of  New  York  and  the 
Jerseys,  was  appointed  his  successor.  He  was  son  of  the  cele- 
brated Bishop  Burnet,  and  was  a  man  of  great  quickness  of  parts, 
amiable,  of  great  firmness  of  purpose,  and  unimpeachable  charac- 
ter. The  whole  term  of  his  administration  was  occupied  by  the 
wearisome  contest  about  his  salary,  which  so  effectually  destroyed 
his  domestic  comfort,  that  he  injured  his  health,  and  finally  fell 
a  victim  to  it,  and  died  in  the  colony.  On  his  first  assuming  th»; 
government  he  informed  them  that  his  instructions  were  per- 
emptory, not  to  accept  any  thing  short  of  a  permanent  and  fixed 
salary,  during  his  continuance  in  office,  and  that  he  should  inflex- 
ibly adhere  to  them.  The  Assembly  knew  that  his  private  for- 
tune was  inadequate  to  his  support,  and  therefore  meanly  hoped, 
by  supplying  his  temporary  wants,  to  induce  him  to  waive  a 
strict  obedience  to  his  orders,  and  accordingly  voted  him  a  most 
liberal  provision  for  the  current  year,  which  they  accompanied 
with  an  address,  repeating  the  old  hackneyed  abstract  :  "  Un- 
doubted right  of  Englishmen  to  raise  and  apply  money  for  the 
support  of  government,"  announcing  their  willingness  to  give  an 
honorable  and  ample  provision  ;  but  expressing  their  conviction, 
that  it  would  he  most  beneficial  for  his  Majesty's  service  to  do 
so,  without  establishing  a  fixed  salary.  The  governor,  who  was 
as  much  distinguished  for  readiness  as  ability,  answered,  that 
the  right  of  Englishmen  could  never  entitle  them  to  do  wrong ; 
that  their  privilege  of  raising  money  was  by  charter  expressed  to 
be  by  wholesome  and  reasonable  laws  and  directions,  consequent- 
ly not  such  as  were  hurtful  to  the  constitution,  and  the  ends  of 
government ;  that  the  mode  in  which  they  proposed  to  provida 
for  him  could  not  be  honorable,  for  it  deprived  him  of  his  un- 
doubted right  as  an  Englishman,  and  the  king's  representative, 
to  exercise  his  judgment,  or  compelled  him  to  remain  without 
support ;  and  appealed  to  their  own  consciences,  whether,  upon 
former  occasions,  they  had  not  withheld  the  allowance,  until  cer- 
tain bills  were  passed,  and  whether  they  had  not  sometimes, 
made  the  grant  contingent  upon  the  allowance  of  such  bills  ;  and 
concluded  by  telling  them,  if  they  really  intended  from  time  to 
time  to  grant  him  an  honorable  support,  they  could  have  no  just 
objection  to  making  th^ir  purposes  effectual  by  at  once  fixing  the 
amount,  for  he  never  would  accept  it  in  any  other  form.  They 

L 


242  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

however  avowed  their  determination  tt>  adhere  to  flit.*,  -«k,'>,  on, 
and  he  remained  unpaid. 

It  would  be  tedious  to  follow  this  subject  further  into  detail. 
The  people  of  Boston,  at  a  general  meeting  of  the  inhabitants, 
passed  a  resolution,  approving  of  the  proceedings  of  the  House ; 
and  by  their  violent  conduct  overawed  those  who  were  for  pre- 
serving an.  understanding  between  the  several  branches  of  the 
Legislature.  The  governor,  with  some  humor,  observed,  that 
there  might  possibly  be  some  charm  in  a  name,  or  some  hidden 
meaning  in  selecting  it,  and  as  Salem  and  Concord  were  both 
within  a  reasonable  distance,  he  would  convoke  the  Legislature 
successively  to  those  places,  where  they  would  be  beyond  the 
reach  of  the  turbulent  inhabitants  of  the  capital.  The  first  was 
tried  with  no  better  success ;  after  which  they  were  directed  to 
assemble  at  Cambridge.  At  the  latter  place,  a  detailed  report 
of  the  committee  of  the  Privy  Council  was  exhibited  to  them,  in 
which  his  Excellency's  conduct  was  as  highly  approved  as  that 
of  the  local  assembly  was  condemned,  and  the  whole  matter  was 
recommended  to  be  submitted  to  Parliament.  The  revolutionary 
feeling,  however,  was  too  strong  to  be  influenced  either  by  reason 
or  fear.  Instead  of  retracing  their  steps,  they  determined  to 
persevere,  and  appointed  an  agent  in  England  to  defend  their 
conduct,  and  voted  a  salary  to  him,  in  preference  to  the  governor. 
Burnet,  embarrassed  in  his  means,  and  hampered  and  oppressed 
by  this  continued  and  offensive  struggle,  fell  at  last,  as  we  have 
seen,  a  victim  to  the  imbecility  of  the  home,  and  the  implaca- 
bility of  the  local  powers.  The  Assembly  ordered  an  honorable 
public  funeral,  many  of  the  Patriots  observing,  with  Puritanical 
charity,  that  a  dead  governor  was  better  than  a  living  tyrant, 
and  that  burying  the  representative  of  royalty  was  an  expense 
which  the  public  would  defray  with  great  pleasure. 

While  these  disputes  were  disturbing  the  peace  of  Massachu- 
setts, similar  difficulties  occurred  at  New  York,  and  Governor 
Hunter,  "tired,"  as  he  said,  "of  begging  his  bread,"  and  finding 
that  the  threats  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  of  parliamentary 
interference,  were  viewed  in  the  light  of  "  bullying  letters,"  con- 
descended to  obtain  by  intrigue,  and  a  high-handed  exercise  of 
power  and  patronage,  what  he  could  not  procure  by  constitu- 
tional means. 

Mr.  Belcher  was  appointed  to  succeed  to  the  vacant  command 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  243 

in  Massachusetts,  August,  ,1730.  Warned  and  irritated  by  the 
defeat  of  preceding  governors,  the  king  furnished  him  with  much 
stronger  instructions  than  had  ever  yet  been  given,  on  the  disputed 
subject  of  the  salary.  He  was  told  :  "  if  the  Assembly  refuse  to 
comply,  his  Majesty  will  be  under  the  necessity  of  laying  the 
undutiful  behavior  of  the  province  before  the  Legislature  of  Great 
Britain,  not  only  in  this  single  instance,  but  in  many  others  of 
the  same  nature  and  tendency ;  whereby  it  manifestly  appears, 
that  the  Assembly  for  many  years  past  has  attempted,  by  unwar- 
rantable practices,  to  weaken,  if  not  cast  off,  the  obedience  they 
owe  to  the  Crown,  and  the  dependence  which  all  colonies  ought 
to  have  on  the  mother  country."  He  was  also  instructed  that, 
"His  Majesty  expects  that  they  do  forthwith  comply  with  this 
proposal,  as  the  last  signification  of  His  Royal  pleasure,  and  that 
you  do  come  over  immediately  to  this  kingdom  of  Great  Britain, 
in  order  to  give  him  an  exact  account  of  all  that  shall  have  passed 
upon  this  subject,  that  he  may  lay  the  same  before  Parliament." 
He  was  not  more  fortunate,  however,  than  his  predecessors,  and 
finding  at  last  that  the  General  Court  would  not  recede  from  their 
resolution  against  settling  a  salary,  he  directed  his  exertions  to 
procuring  an  establishment  during  his  continuance  in  office  ;  but 
after  flattering  prospects  of  succeeding  thus  far,  he  failed  even  in 
this,  and  thenceforth  gave  up  all  idea  of  carrying  the  measure. 
He  finally  obtained  leave  of  the  Crown  to  accept  such  terms  as 
should  be  granted,  and  so  terminated,  for  this  time,  one  of  the 
most  memorable  conflicts  between  the  Crown  and  the  province, 
which  its  political  history  hitherto  affords. 

In  this  struggle,  we  may  see  a  precedent  never  forgotten  in 
the  colonies,  of  the  ultimate  success  of  agitation,  whenever  spirit- 
edly pursued  for  any  length  of  time  ;  of  the  want  of  firmness  in 
the  British  Government,  even  in  those  matters  in  which  it  has 
both  reason  and  justice  on  its  side  ;  and  of  the  facility  with  which 
her  friends  who  consistently  support  imperial  control  and  prerog- 
ative rights,  are  abandoned  to  the  triumph  of  their  enemies,  and 
the  unpopularity  and  odium  necessarily  attending  the  advocacy 
of  measures  opposed  to  the  passions  and  prejudices  of  the  people. 
Extorted  concessions  are  regarded  as  acts  of  necessity,  and  not 
benevolence,  and  are  neither  entitled  to,  nor  receive  gratitude, 
whils  the  abandonment  of  allies,  without  reward  or  protection,  ia 
an  act  of  treachery,  that  not  only  repels  future  confidence,  but 


244  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

increases  the  relative  forces  of  the  enemy,  by  detaching  indignant 
and  injured  adherents.  Now  that  the  main  question  of  a  per- 
manent salary  was  abandoned,  the  office  became  of  little  value, 
in  point  of  emolument,  while  the  increased  impulse  given  to  re- 
publicanism by  the  surrender  of  principle,  rendered  it  still  less 
desirable,  from  the  perpetual  struggle  of  parties. 

Up  to  this  period  every  candid  person  must  admit  that  the 
American  colonists  had  nothing  to  complain  of;  the  only  just 
cause  of  regret  being  one,  which  they  regarded  as  their  greatest 
happiness,  namely,  ignorance  or  indifference  on  the  part  of  En- 
gland of  what  they  were  doing,  and  a  total  neglect,  arising  in 
part  from  these  causes,  and  in  part  from  inability  to  bestow 
her  attention  on  any  thing  else  than  her^>wn  more  immediate 
concerns.  A  century  had  thus  been  allowed  to  elapse  before  the 
advantages  of  colonies  began  to  be  appreciated,  or  their  forms 
of  government  properly  adjusted,  during  which  period  a  feeling 
had  arisen  of  great  repugnance  to  imperial  control  on  the  one 
hand,  and  a  distrust  of  the  tendency  of  Americans  to  republicanism 
on  the  other.  New  generations  had  grown  up,  on  either  side  of 
the  water,  who  knew  nothing  of  each  other ;  whose  interests 
were  apparently  as  distant  as  their  respective  positions,  and  who 
scarcely  felt  or  acknowledged  those  ties  of  friendship,  that  could 
alone  bind  them  together. 

One  would  naturally  suppose  that  after  such  an  experience  of 
colonization,  ending  in  so  fatal  a  result  as  the  American  Revo- 
lution, Great  Britain  would  have  avoided  the  effects  of  similar 
ignorance  or  neglect,  if  it  were  not,  unfortunately,  but  too  plain 
that  the  lessons  of  history,  like  personal  experience,  are  of  little 
use  to  any  but  the  immediate  actors.  People,  living  near  to- 
gether like  the  English,  and  inhabiting  the  same  country,  know 
as  little  of  each  other  as  if  the  sea  rolled  between  them.  Such 
are  the  advances  of  civilization,  and  such  the  effects  of  constitu- 
tional changes  of  modern  times,  that  the  country  may  now  be 
said,  for  all  practical  purposes,  to  possess  but  two  orders,  as  of  old, 
the  rich  and  the  poor ;  for  the  middle  class  is  nearly  absorbed  by 
one  or  the  other  of  these  great  bodies.  There  is  now  an  aristoc- 
racy of  wealth  among  the  untitled  manufacturers,  as  well  as  of 
land  among  the  peers,  and  there  is  a  third  of  letters  and  of  talent, 
that  limits  the  sphere  and  the  power  of  both,  by  raising  or  re- 
ducing them  to  its  own  level ;  while  the  ramifications  of  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  245 

lower  class  are  extended  far  into  the  ground  hitherto  occupied  by 
the  middle  orders.  Social  distinctions  are  still  well  defined,  and 
palpable  enough,  though  by  no  means  so  strong  as  formerly. 
Politically  considered,  therefore,  there  are  but  two  classes  among 
the  people  of  England,  but  how  little  does  either  know  of  the 
other.  Where  is  there  a  body  in  the  world  so  distinguished  for 
its  ability,  learning,  high  religious  and  honorable  feelings,  its 
munificence  in  all  public  undertakings,  and  its  unbounded  charity 
in  the  social  relations  of  private  life,  as  the  aristocracy  of  En- 
gland ?  On  the  other  hand,  where  is  there  a  population  possess- 
ing such  manly  independence  of  conduct,  and  patient  endurance 
of  trial  and  privation,  and  such  an  obedient  submission  to  con- 
stituted authority,  and  so  many  of  those  virtues  that  adorn  and 
dignify  the  character  of  man,  as  the  lower  orders  of  Englishmen  ? 
Yet  they  are  so  wide  apart,  the  line  of  distinction  and  demarka- 
tion  is  so  strong,  that  they  neither  know  each  other's  value,  nor 
do  justice  to  each  other's  integrity.  Too  many  of  the  poor  regard 
the  lords  as  men  devoted  to  pleasure,  possessing  the  means,  and 
indulging  the  excesses  of  profligacy,  and  squandering  the  hard 
earnings  of  the  laborer  in  riotous  living.  While  the  noble,  on  his 
part,  looks  at  the  dark  cloud  that  envelops  the  lowly  dwellings,  and 
conceals  the  persons  of  the  poor,  with  instinctive  fear.  The  sound 
of  many  voices  fills  him  with  dread,  lest  it  should  be  the  distant 
thunder  that  forbodes  the  storm  ;  and  when  he  recollects  that  the 
highway  robber,  the  murderer,  the  incendiary,  and  the  burglar, 
lie  hidden  in  the  loathsome  dens  of  destitute  and  hopeless  wretch- 
edness, he  is  but  too  apt  to  associate  the  idea  of  poverty  with 
crime.  There  is  no  Atlantic  to  divide  and  keep  them  apart ; 
but  there  is  a  neutral  ground  that  lies  between  them,  occupied  by 
a  banditti  of  Irish  agitators,  English  free  traders,  free-thinkers, 
demagogues,  and  political  adventurers,  that  cut  off"  all  intercourse 
and  intercept  all  mutual  correspondence.  Their  daily  subsistence 
is  derived  from  the  credulous  support  of  the  poor ;  while  the  fer- 
tile regions  of  the  rich  afford  valuable  prizes  to  their  fraudulent 
speculations,  or  their  violent  forays.  They  have  impoverished 
both.  Under  the  wicked  pretense  of  cheap  bread,  they  have 
lowered  the  wages  of  the  laborer,  and  at  the  same  time,  by  caus- 
ing a  reduction  of  rents,  and  of  the  value  of  real  estate,  have  dis- 
abled benevolence  from  giving  employment  to  the  industrious 
poor.  The  ground  these  unprincipled  people  occupy,  pertains  to 


246  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

the  Church,  and  the  sooner  she  is  enabled  to  recover  possession 
of  it,  and  by  salutary  example,  and  sound  teaching,  to  root  out 
these  pernicious  intruders,  the  better  for  the  peace,  prosperity, 
and  happiness  of  the  nation. 

If  such  a  state  of  ignorance  exists  among  the  population  of  a 
country  like  England,  as  to  the  character,  condition,  feelings,  and 
wants  of  its  several  orders,  we  may  cease  to  wonder  that  so  little 
was  formerly  known  of  the  colonies,  by  those  whose  interest  and 
duty  it  was  to  inform  themselves.  But  though  the  history  of 
republicanism  in  America  may  excite  but  little  interest  among 
statesmen,  as  to  the  remaining  provinces,  with  which  they  appear 
utterly  incapable  of  dealing,  it  may  be  a  salutary  study  to  those 
visionary  rnen  in  Europe,  who  have  the  vanity  to  think  that  they 
are  able  to  copy  the  admirable  form  of  government  of  the  United 
States,  or  can  find  a  country  fitted  for  it,  or  a  people  who  have 
the  knowledge,  perseverance,  coolness,  or  skill  to  keep  it  in  oper- 
ation and  repair. 


CHAPTER  III. 

SKETCH  OF  POLITICAL  EVENTS  FROM  1740  TO   1763. 

Review  of  the  State  of  the  Colonies  from  the  Commencement  of  the  Century — 
Trade,  Imports,  and  Exports — Attempts  at  domestic  Manufactures  discour- 
aged— Provincials  prohibited  from  exporting  Wool  from  one  Colony  to  an- 
other, or  to  foreign  Countries — State  of  the  Church  of  England  in  America — 
Attempt  of  the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel  to  introduce  Bishops, 
grossly  misrepresented — Alarm  felt  at  the  Spread  of  Church  Principles,  in  Con- 
sequence of  the  Secession  of  several  eminent  Dissenting  Divines — A  Man 
fined  fifty  Pounds  for  maintaining  that  no  other  but  Episcopal  Ordination  was 
valid — Universal  Disregard  of  the  Laws  of  Trade — Rebellion  in  Carolina — 
Establishment  of  a  General  Post  Office — Opposition  to  it — Proposed  Schema 
for  confederating  all  the  Colonies — Its  Details — The  Plan  very  similar  to  that 
of  General  Government — Frequent  Assemblies  of  General  Officers  and  Gover- 
nors suggest  the  Idea  of  Congress — Dispute  between  Lord  London  and  the 
General  Court  about  Supplies  for  the  Troops — Attack  on  the  Judges,  and  also 
the  Custom  House  Officers — Question  as  to  Legality  of  Writs  of  Assistance — 
Speech  of  Mr.  Otis— Peace  of  1763. 

IN  order  to  preserve  the  account  entire  of  the  controversy 
about  fixed  salaries,  many  incidental  matters  of  interest  have  been 
omitted,  which  if  now  thrown  together  in  a  retrospective  review 
will  enable  us  to  judge  of  the  state  of  the  colonies  during  the  last 
forty  years.  The  trade  of  the  provinces,  notwithstanding  the 
restrictions  to  which  it  was  subject,  was  greatly  augmented.  In 
the  latter  years  of  William  III.  the  annual  exports  of  the  prov- 
inces to  England  amounted  to  about  .£320,000.  The  imports 
were  nearly  the  same.  The  traffic  with  Europe,  the  West 
Indies,  the  Canaries,  and  the  Azores,  the  greater  part  of  which 
was  illicit,  was  estimated  at  about  an  equal  amount.  The 
"plantation  duties"  collected  in  the  colonies  were  sufficient  to 
pay  the  expense  of  the  custom-house  establishment,  and  to  leave 
a  net  surplus  of  .£1200  a  year. 

Schemes  continued  to  be  indulged  in  America  for  the  encour- 
agement of  domestic  manufactures ;  but  these  enterprises,  and 
the  acts  of  the  Assemblies  for  promoting  them,  were  regarded  in 
Great  Britain  with  much  jealousy.  Woolen  cloths,  at  that  time, 
were  the  chief  English  production  for  exportation.  A  law,  de- 


248  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

signed  to  cramp  this  business  in  the  colonies,  prohibited  the 
transport  of  domestic  woolens  from  one  province  to  another,  or  the 
export  of  colonial  wool  or  cloth  to  any  foreign  market. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  century,  the  venerable  Society  for 
Propagating  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts  was  incorporated.  No 
religious  association,  perhaps,  in  the  world,  has  produced  so  much 
good,  or  is  at  this  moment  diffusing  so  much  benefit  over  the  dis- 
tant parts  of  the  empire.  Although  its  first  efforts  were  com- 
paratively feeble,  from  the  state  of  its  funds,  its  salutary  influence 
was  visible  in  the  extension  of  the  Church,  and  the  dissemination 
of  good  sound  principles.  Throughout  the  colonies  new  congre- 
gations were  forming,  and  additional  pastors  demanded.  At  last 
the  Society  became  sensible  of  the  error  that  had  originally  been 
committed,  and  was  still  allowed  to  continue,  in  its  missionary 
work  in  America,  in  not  placing  the  clergy  under  proper  episcopal 
control.  To  remedy  this  evil,  it  was  proposed  to  send  over 
bishops.  But  knowing  the  imputations  to  which  their  conduct 
would  be  subject,  and  the  misrepresentations  of  their  motives, 
which  would  be  maliciously  invented,  and  vindictively  circulated, 
they  stated  the  object  they  had  in  view,  and  the  limited  extent 
of  jurisdiction  they  required. 

They  assured  the  colonists,  1st,  "  That  no  coercive  power  is 
desired  over  the  laity  in  any  case,  but  only  a  power  to  regulate 
the  behavior  of  the  clergy  who  are  in  episcopal  orders,  and  to  cor- 
rect and  punish  them  according  to  the  laws  of  the  Church  of 
England,  in  case  of  misbehavior  or  neglect  of  duty,  with  such 
power  as  the  commissaries  have  exercised.  2.  That  nothing  is 
desired  for  such  bishops  that  may  in  the  least  interfere  with  the 
dignity,  authority,  or  interest  of  the  governor  or  any  other  officer 
of  state.  Probates  of  wills,  license  for  marriage,  &c.,  to  be  left 
in  the  hands  where  they  are,  and  no  share  in  the  temporal 
government  is  desired  for  bishops.  3,  The  maintenance  of  such 
prelates  not  to  be  at  the  charge  of  the  colonies.  4.  No  bishops 
are  intended  to  be  settled  in  places  where  the  government  is  in 
the  hands  of  Dissenters,  as  in  New  England,  &c.,  but  authority  to 
be  given  only  to  ordain  clergy  for  such  Church  of  England  con-, 
gregations  as  are  among  them,  and  to  inspect  into  the  manners 
and  behavior  of  such  clergy,  and  to  confirm  the  members  thereof." 

As  the  Society  feared,  their  avowal  awakened  a  storm  of 
sectarian  opposition  and  abuse,  that  unfortunately  terrified  them 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  £49 

from  proceeding  with  their  laudable  and  necessary  plan  of  giving 
effect  to  the  teaching  and  discipline  of  the  Church.  It  was  ob- 
served every  where  that  Episcopalians  were  loyal  subjects  and 
averse  to  those  schemes  of  separation,  which  were  now  becoming 
so  general  and  so  popular ;  but  the  secession  of  several  eminent 
dissenting  ministers  alarmed  the  Puritans  still  more.  The  Con- 
necticut College,  transferred  from  Saybrook  to  New  Haven,  and 
named  Yale  after  one  of  its  early  benefactors,  had  been  latterly 
intrusted  to  the  rectorship  of  the  Rev.  Timothy  Cutler,  a  minister 
of  talent  and  distinguished  learning.  To  the  surprise  and  alarm 
of  the  good  people  of  New  England,  Cutler,  with  the  tutor  of  the 
college  and  two  neighboring  ministers,  took  occasion,  on  a  com- 
mencement-day, to  avow  conversion  to  Episcopacy — a  lapse  in 
which  they  persisted  in  spite  of  an  elaborate,  and,  as  the  audience 
thought,  most  convincing  argument  set  forth  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment  by  the  governor,  Saltonstall,  in  favor  of  Congregation- 
alism. Cutler  was  forthwith  excused  from  all  further  service  as 
rector  of  the  college,  and  provision  was  made  for  requiring  of  all 
future  presidents  satisfactory  evidence  of  the  soundness  of  their 
faith  in  opposition  to  Arminian  and  prelatical  corruptions. 

This  prompt  discipline,  and  the  vehement  outcry  raised  against 
the  deserters,  terrified  and  stopped  several  others  inclined,  it  was 
suspected,  to  join  in  the  revolt.  Defection,  nevertheless,  continued 
to  spread.  Cutler  became  rector  of  a  new  Episcopal  Church  in 
Boston.  The  dismissed  ministers  were  maintained  as  missionaries 
by  the  Society,  and  a  new  element  through  their  means,  was 
gradually  introduced  into  the  religious  system  of  Connecticut. 

The  jealousy  excited  by  the  secessions  in  Connecticut,  was 
evinced  in  Massachusetts  by  the  trial  of  John  Checkley,  afterward 
ordained  as  an  Episcopal  missionary,  and  sent  to  preach  in  Rhode 
Island,  for  publishing  Leslie's  "  Short  and  Easy  Way  with  the 
Deists,"  with  an  appendix  by  himself,  in  which  prelatic  ordination 
was  insisted  upon  as  necessary  to  constitute  a  Christian  minister. 

This  publication  was  charged  with  tending  "  to  bring  into  con- 
tempt and  infamy  the  ministers  of  the  Holy  Gospel  established 
by  law  within  his  Majesty's  province  of  Massachusetts."  The 
jury  having  found  a  special  verdict  stating  the  facts,  the  indict- 
ment was  sustained  by  the  Court,  and  Checkley  was  fined  «£50. 

At  this  period  a  spirit  of  insubordination,  occasioned  in  part  by 
restraint  on  their  trade,  but  more  by  the  improvident  grant  of 

L* 


250  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

patents  that  conveyed  self-government  to  its  fullest  extent,  was 
observable  all  over  the  continent.  The  Board  of  Trade  thus 
officially  reports  of  the  chartered  colonies  to  William,  in  March, 
1701  :  "  That  so  far  from  having  answered  the  chief  design  for 
which  such  large  immunities  had  been  granted,  they  had  not  in 
general  complied  with  the  late  Acts  of  Parliament ;  that  they 
had  not  only  assumed  the  power  of  making  by-laws,  repugnant 
to  those  of  England,  and  destructive  to  trade,  but  refused  to  sub- 
mit their  acts  for  approval,  or  to  allow  appeals,  and  continued  to 
be  the  retreat  of  pirates  and  illegal  traders,  and  the  receptacle  of 
contraband  merchandise.  That  by  exempting  their  inhabitants 
from  the  customs  paid  by  other  plantations,  these  independent 
governments  undermined  the  welfare  of  their  neighbors,  and,  by 
lowering  the  value  of  coins,  turned  the  course  of  trade  to  the  pro- 
moting of  woolen  and  other  manufactures  proper  for  England, 
contrary  to  the  true  intention  of  such  establishments.  That  their 
irregularities,  arising  from  the  ill  use  they  made  of  their  charter, 
and  the  independency  they  pretend  to,  evince  how  necessary  it 
becomes,  more  and  more  every  day,  to  introduce  such  a  regulation 
of  trade,  and  such  an  administration  of  government,  as  shall  make 
them  duly  subservient  to  England.  That  since  the  royal  com- 
mands had  not  been  met  with  due  obedience,  it  might  be  expedient 
to  resume  their  charters,  and  to  reduce  them  to  the  same  depend- 
ency as  other  colonies,  which  will  be  best  effected  by  the  legisla- 
tive power  of  this  kingdom."  A  bill  was  accordingly  introduced 
into  Parliament,  founded  on  this  statement,  but  was  allowed  to 
be  defeated  by  party,  or  neglected  by  ignorance  or  imbecility. 

This  very  success  emboldened  aggression.  In  the  southern  part 
of  the  continent,  where  the  presence  of  the  war  was  but  little 
felt,  there  was  nothing  to  divert  men's  minds  from  these  petty  local 
disputes  which  are  generally  acrimonious,  as  the  population  is  lim- 
ited in  number,  and  cut  off  from  frequent  intercourse  with  the  rest 
of  the  world.  Carolina  openly  rebelled  against  the  proprietors,  and 
took  the  government  into  its  own  hands.  An  association  was  then 
formed  among  the  people  for  uniting  the  whole  province  in  oppo- 
sition to  the  proprietary ;  and  the  inhabitants,  w'ith  scarcely  an 
exception,  subscribed  the  instrument  of  union.  Governor  John- 
son, after  a  contest  with  the  delegates  on  the  subject,  issued  a 
proclamation  for  dissolving  them,  and  retired  to  the  country. 
The  representatives  ordered  his  proclamation  to  be  torn  from  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  251 

marshal's  hands,  and  proceeded  to  open  usurpation.  Assembling 
on  their  own  authority,  they  chose  James  Moore,  governor,  and, 
on  a  fixed  day,  proclaimed  him  in  the  name  of  the  king.  They 
next  chose  twelve  councilors,  of  whom  Sir  Hovenden  Walker  was 
the  president,  and  thus  formed  a  constitution  of  their  own  free 
choice. 

Johnson,  the  representative  of  the  proprietary,  having  attempted 
to  disconcert  their  measures,  and  create  some  embarrassment,  now 
made  his  last  and  boldest  effort  for  subjecting  the  colonists  to  his 
authority.  He  brought  up  the  ships  of  war  in  front  of  Charles- 
ton, and  threatened  to  destroy  their  capital  if  they  persisted  in 
refusing  obedience  to  constituted  authority.  The  people,  however, 
having  arms  in  their  hands,  and  forts  in  their  possession,  bade 
defiance  to  his  power,  and  he  relinquished  his  attempt  to  enforce 
submission  to  the  old  government.  Resistance  was  openly  avowed 
and  advocated  in  all  cases  where  the  interest  or  the  pretensions 
of  the  provincials  were  interfered  with. 

About  the  same  time,  the  jealousy  so  long  felt  in  England,  of 
the  charters  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island,  found  new  expres- 
sion in  a  project  for  uniting  these  colonies  with  New  Hampshire, 
into  a  single  royal  province ;  but  the  people,  with  their  usual 
pertinacity,  declared  their  resolution  to  part  with  none  of  their 
privileges  unless  "  wrenched  from  them."  Even  the  Post  Office 
offered  a  ground  fer  alarm  and  resistance.  As  early  as  1692,  a 
patent  had  been  granted  to  a  person  of  the  name  of  Neal,  for 
establishing  posts  in  America.  The  system  introduced  by  him, 
had  ever  been  irregular  and  imperfect,  owing  to  the  indifference 
or  hostility  of  the  people.  At  the  expira^on  of  this  monopoly,  in 
1710,  an  Act  of  Parliament  extended  in  due  form,  the  British 
Post  Office  to  America.  The  principal  department  was  estab- 
lished at  New  York,  to  which  letters  were  to  be  conveyed  by 
regular  packets  across  the  Atlantic.*  The  same  Act  regulated 
the  rates  of  postage  to  be  paid  in  the  plantations,  exempted  the 
mail  carriers  from  ferriage,  and  enabled  the  officers  to  recover 
their  dues  by  summary  process.  So  slow,  however,  was  its  pro- 

*  The  rates  of  postage,  both  packet  and  inland,  were  extremely  moderate. 
On  all  letters  from  London  to  New  York,  and  thence  to  London,  it  was — single, 
Is. ;  double,  2s. ;  treble,  3s. ;  ounce,  4s.  The  rate  of  all  letters  from  New  York 
to  any  place  within  sixty  miles  thereof,  and  thence  to  New  York,  was — single. 
4d. ;  double,  8d. ;  treble,  Is. ;  ounce,  Is.  4 d. 


252  THE   ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

gress,  that  eight  years  elapsed  before  it  was  extended  to  Virginia. 
Clamor  instantly  propagated  objections  to  the  principles  of  the 
Act  of  Parliament,  as  unconstitutional,  and  to  the  practice  of  the 
Post  Office  as  inconvenient.  Spotswood  wrote  to  the  Board  of 
Trade,  in  June,  1718,  that  "  the  people  were  made  to  believe  that 
the  Parliament  could  not  lay  any  tax  (for  so  they  called  the  rates 
of  postage)  qn  them,  without  the  consent  of  the  General  Assem- 
bly. This  gave  a  handle  for  framing  some  grievance  against  the 
new  office,  and  thereupon  a  bill  was  passed  by  both  councils  and 
burgesses,  which,  though  it  acknowledged  the  Act  of  Parliament 
to  be  in  force  in  Virginia,  doth  effectually  prevent  its  ever  being 
put  in  execution.  Whence  your  lordships  may  judge,  how  well- 
affeeted  the  major  part  of  the  Assemblymen  are  toward  the  col- 
lection of  this  branch  of  his  Majesty's  revenue." 

Morris  gave  information  from  New  Jersey  to  the  Board  of 
Trade,  in  June,  1743,  that  "  the  delegates  are  generally  so  fond 
of  the  example  of  the  Parliament  of  1641,  and  of  their  neighbors 
in  Pennsylvania  and  New  England,  that  it  is  easy  to  see  what 
Assemblies  in  these  parts  of  the  world  are  aiming  at."  To  the 
Duke  of  Newcastle,  he  remarked,  "it  may,  perhaps,  seem  strange 
to  your  Grace,  that  an  American  Assembly  should  make  the  pass- 
ing of  any  law  a  condition,  sine  qua  non,  of  supporting  the  Gov- 
ernment ;  but  to  what  lengths  they  will  carry  their  endeavors, 
unless  they  meet  with  some  more  effectual  check  than  they  have 
done,  my  superiors  can  best  judge." 

The  Board  of  Trade  reported  that  the  Pennsylvanian  Assembly 
having  passed  several  acts,  which  were  found  to  offend  equally 
against  natural  justice,«the  laws  of  England,  and  the  royal  pre- 
rogative, containing  the  most  dangerous  claims,  "  that  it  was  in 
vain  to  negotiate  away  his  Majesty's  authority,  since  every  new 
concession  becomes  a  foundation  for  some  new  demand,  and  that 
of  some  new  dispute."  It  also  complained  of  the  obstacles  thrown 
in  the  way  of  its  obtaining  information.  "  We  can  not  conceal," 
they  say,  "  the  difficulty  of  procuring  returns  of  the  commercial 
affairs  of  New  England,  which  will  not  appear  extraordinary, 
when  we  acquaint  your  lordship  that  the  Assembly  of  Massa- 
chusetts Bay  had  the  boldness  to  summon  Mr.  Jeremiah  Dunbar 
before  them,  and  to  pass  a  severe  censure  upon  him,  for  having 
given  evidence  at  the  bar  of  the  House  of  Commons,  with  regard 
to  their  trade  and  manufactures." 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  253 

To  all  these  warnings,  the  Parliament  was  indifferent  or  inat- 
tentive, and  the  evil  was  allowed  to  extend  itself  to  that  degree, 
that  when  a  remedy  was  attempted  it  was  found  to  be  incurable. 
The  colonists,  however,  were  fully  alive  to  their  interests,  and 
lost  no  opportunity  of  advancing  them.  The  most  important 
subject  at  that  time  ever  debated  on  this  continent,  was  now 
fully  considered  in  all  its  bearings,  namely,  a  confederation  of  all 
the  provinces,  with  a  constitution  as  nearly  as  possible  resem- 
bling that  of  the  United  States.  This,  doubtless,  was  suggested 
by  the  combination  of  the  early  plantations  of  New  England,  al- 
ready referred  to,  while  this  more  perfect  and  better  matured 
plan,  served  as  a  model  first  for  Congress,  and  Convention,  and 
then  for  the  union  of  all  the  revolted  colonies. 

The  interest  and  importance  of  the  subject  justify  and  require 
a  detailed  notice  of  it.  The  Board  of  Trade  ordered  an  assem- 
blage of  delegates  from  all  the  Governments,  to  be  held  at  some 
central  place,  for  the  purpose  of  considering1  the  subject  of  Indian 
affairs.  To  this  meeting,  which  took  place  at  Albany,  on  the 
14th  of  June,  1754,  six  provinces  sent  commissioners.  It  is  re- 
markable that  Massachusetts  not  only  empowered  her  delegates 
to  act  upon  the  object  of  the  letter  from  the  Lords  Commissioners, 
but  authorized  them  to  enter  into  articles  of  union  and  confedera- 
tion with  the  other  Governments,  for  the  general  defense  of  his 
Majesty's  subjects  and  interests  in  North  America,  as  well  in 
time  of  peace,  as  in  war.  After  mature  deliberation,  the  follow- 
ing plan  was  agreed  upon : 

"It  is  proposed  that  humble  application  be  made  for  an  Act 
of  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  by  virtue  of  which  one  general 
Government  may  be  formed  in  America,  including  all  the  said 
colonies  (Massachusetts  Bay,  New  Hampshire,  Connecticut, 
Rhode  Island,  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Maryland, 
Virginia,  North  Carolina,  and  South  Carolina) ;  within,  and 
under  which  Government,  each  colony  may  retain  its  present 
constitution,  except  in  the  particulars  wherein  a  change  may  be 
directed  by  the  said  Act,  as  hereafter  follows : 

PRESIDENT-GENERAL    AND  GRAND    COUNCIL 

"  That  the  said  General  Government  be  administered  by  a 
President-general,  to  be  appointed  and  supported  by  the  Crown, 
and  a  Grand  Council,  to  be  chosen  by  the  representatives  of  the 


254  THE  ENGLISH  IN   AMERICA. 

people  of  the  several  colonies,  met  in  their  respective  Assem- 
blies. 

ELECTION   OF   MEMBERS. 

"  That  within months  after  passing  of  such  Acts,  the  House 

of  Representatives  that  happen  to  be  sitting  within  that  time, 
or  that  shall  be  especially  for  the  purpose  convened,  may*  and 
shall  choose  members  for  the  Grand  Council,  in  the  following  pro- 
portion, that  is  to  say,  Massachusetts  Bay  7,  New  Hampshire  2, 
Connecticut  5,  Rhode  Island  2,  New  York  4,  New  Jersey  3, 
Pennsylvania  6,  Maryland  4,  Virginia  7,  North  Carolina  4, 
South  Carolina  4  :  Total  48. 

PLACE    OF   FIRST    MEETING. 

"  Who  shall  meet  for  the  first  time  at  the  city  of  Philadelphia, 
in  Pennsylvania,  being  called  by  the  President-general  as  soon 
as  conveniently  may  be  after  his  appointment. 

NEW   ELECTION. 

"  There  shall  be  a  new  election  of  the  members  of  the  Grand 
Council,  every  three  years,  and  on  the  death  or  resignation  of 
any  member,  his  place  shall  be  supplied  by  a  new  choice,  at  the 
next  sitting" of  the  Assembly  of  the  colony  he  represented. 

PROPORTION   OF    THE    MEMBERS   AFTER    THE    FIRST    THREE    YEARS. 

"  That  after  the  first  three  years,  when  the  proportion  of  money 
arising  out  of  each  colony  to  the  general  treasury  can  be  known, 
the  number  of  members  to  be  chosen  for  each  colony  shall  from 
time  to  time  in  all  ensuing  elections  be  regulated  by  that  propor- 
tion (yet  so  as  that  the  number  to  be  chosen  by  any  one  province, 
be  not  more  than  seven  or  less  than  two) 

MEETINGS  OF  THE  GRAND  COUNCIL  AND  CALL. 

"  That  the  Grand  Council  shall  meet  once  in  every  year,  and 
oftener,  if  occasion  require,  at  such  time  and  pla'ce,  as  they  shall 
adjourn  to,  at  the  last  preceding  meeting,  or  as  they  shall  be  cal- 
led to  meet  at  by  the  President-general  on  any  emergency,  he 
having  first  obtained  in  writing  the  consent  of  seven  of  the  mem- 
bers to  such  call,  and  sent  due  and  timely  notice  to  the  whole. 

CONTINUANCE. 

"  That  the  Grand  Council  have  power  to  choose  their  Speaker, 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  255 

and  shall  neither  be  dissolved,  prorogued,  nor  continued  sitting 
longer  than  six  weeks  at  one  time,  without  their  own  consent,  or 
the  special  command  of  the  Crown. 

MEMBERS'  ATTENDANCE. 

"  That  the  members  of  the  Grand  Council  shall  be  allowed  for 
their  services,  ten  shillings  sterling  per  diem,  during  their  session, 
and  journey  to  and  from  the  place  of  meeting,  twenty  miles  to  be 
reckoned  a  day's  journey. 

ASSENT   OF    PRESIDENT-GENERAL  AND   HIS    DUTY. 

"  That  the  assent  of  the  President-general  be  required  to  all 
acts  of  the  Grand  Council,  and  that  it  be  his  office  and  duty  to 
see  them  carried  into  execution. 

POWER   OF    THE    PRESIDENT-GENERAL    AND    GRAND    COUNCIL 

TREATY   OF  PEACE    AND   WAR. 

"  That  the  President-general,  with  the  advice  of  the  Grand 
Council,  hold  or  direct  all  Indian  treaties,  in  which  the  general 
interest  of  the  colonies  may  be  concerned,  and  make  peace  or  de- 
clare war  with  Indian  natives. 

[The  two  next  clauses  referred  to  the  Indians.] 

NEW    SETTLEMENTS. 

"  That  they  make  new  settlements  on  such  purchases  by 
granting  lands  in  the  king's  name,  reserving  a  quit-rent  to  the 
Crown,  for  the  use  of  the  general  treasury. 

LAWS   TO  GOVERN   THEM. 

"  That  they  make  laws  for  regulating  and  governing  such  new 
settlements,  till  the  Crown  shall  think  fit  to  form  thereunto  par- 
ticular governments. 

RAISE    SOLDIERS  AND  EQUIP  VESSELS. 

"  That  theyraise  arid  pay  soldiers,  build  forts  for  the  defense 
of  any  of  the  colonies,  and  equip  vessels  of  force  to  guard  the 
coasts,  and  protect  the  trade  on  the  ocean,  lakes,  or  great  rivers ; 
but  they  shall  not  impress  men  in  any  colony,  without  the  con- 
sent of  the  Legislature. 

POWER  TO  MAKE  LAWS,   LEVY  DUTIES,  ETC. 

"  That  for  these  purposes,  they  have  power  to  make  laws,  and 


J»5  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

lay  and  levy  such  general  duties,  imposts,  taxes,  as  to  them  shall 
appear  most  equal  and  just  (considering  the  ability  and  other 
circumstances  of  the  inhabitants  in  the  several  colonies),  and  such 
as  may  be  collected  with  the  least  inconvenience  to  the  people  ; 
rather  discouraging  luxury,  than  loading  industry  with  unneces- 
sary burdens. 

GENERAL  TREASURER,  AND  PARTICULAR  TREASURER. 

"  That  they  may  appoint  a  general  treasurer,  and  particular 
treasurer  in  each  government,  when  necessary :  and  from  time 
to  time  may  order  the  sums  in  the  treasury  of  each  government 
into  the  general  treasury,  or  draw  on  them  for  special  payments, 
as  they  find  most  convenient. 

MONEY,  HOW  TO  ISSUE. 

"  Yet  no  money  to  issue  but  by  joint  orders  of  the  President- 
general  and  Grand  Council,  except  where  sums  have  been  ap- 
propriated to  particular  purposes,  and  the  President-general  has 
been  previously  empowered  by  an  act  to  draw  for  such  sums. 

ACCOUNTS. 

"  That  the  general  accounts  shall  be  yearly  settled,  and  re- 
ported to  the  several  Assemblies. 

QUORUM. 

"  That  a  quorum  of  the  General  Council,  empowered  to  act  with 
the  President-general,  do  consist  of  twenty-five  members,  among 
whom  there  shall  be  one  or  more  from  the  majority  of  the  colonies. 

LAWS  TO  BE    TRANSMITTED. 

"  That  the  laws  made  by  them  for  the  purposes  aforesaid,  shall 
not  be  repugnant,  but,  as  near  as  may  be,  agreeable  to  the  laws 
of  England,  and  shall  be  transmitted  to  the  king  in  Council  for 
approbation,  as  soon  as  may  be,  after  their  passing,  and  if  not 
disapproved  within  three  years  after  presentation,  to  remain  in 
force. 

DEATH  OF  THE   PRESIDENT-GENERAL. 

"  That  in  case  of  the  death  of  the  President-general,  the 
Speaker  of  the  Grand  Council  for  the  time  being  shall  succeed, 
and  be  vested  with  the  same  powers  and  authorities,  to  continue 
till  the  king's  pleasure  be  known. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA  257 

OFFICERS,   HOW  TO  APPOINT. 

"  That  all  military  commission-officers,  whether  for  land  or 
sea  service,  to  act  under  this  general  constitution,  shall  be  nomi- 
nated by  the  President-general ;  but  the  -approbation  of  the 
General  Council  to  be  obtained  before  they  get  their  commissions. 
Arid  all  civil  officers  to  be  nominated  by  the  General  Council, 
and  to  receive  the  President-general's  approbation,  before  they 
officiate. 

VACANCIES,  HOW  SUPPLIED. 

"But  in  case  of  vacancy  by  death,  or  removal  of  any  officer, 
civil  or  military,  under  the  constitution,  the  governor  of  the  prov- 
ince, in  which  such  vacancy  happens,  may  appoint  till  the  pleas- 
ure of  the  President-general  and  Grand  Council  can  be  known. 

EACH    COLONY  MAY  DEFEND    ITSELF  IN  EMERGENCY. 

"  That  the  particular  military,  as  well  as  civil  establishments 
in  each  colony,  remain  in  their  present  state,  the  general  consti- 
tution notwithstanding,  and  that  on  sudden  emergencies  any 
colony  may  defend  itself,  and  lay  the  accounts  of  expenses,  thence 
arising,  before  the  President-general,  and  Grand  Council,  who 
may  allow  and  order  payment  of  the  same,  as  far  as  they  judge 
such  accounts  reasonable." 

The  commissioners  on  their  return  reported,  that  a  doubt  arose 
in  the  convention  as  to  limiting  the  union,  at  least  into  two 
districts,  from  the  great  extent  of  territory  included  within  it  ; 
but  the  probability  that  the  designs  of  the  enemy  would  require 
the  united  strength  and  counsels  of  the  whole  British  continent, 
and  that  the  affairs  of  the  Indians  would  demand  the  direction  of 
one  undivided  power,  overruled  an  idea  which,  if  executed,  must 
have  much  enfeebled,  if  not  finally  ruined,  the  strength  of  the 
whole.  The  British  Cabinet  contemplated  the  plan  of  union, 
as  calculated  too  strongly  to  demonstrate  the  ability  of  the  colo 
nies  to  defend  themselves,  while  the  control  of  the  Crown  over 
the  administration  was  too  feeble  to  insure  its  eventual  superiority. 
Entertaining  these  views,  they  rejected  the  plan,  for  want  of  suffi- 
cient powers  in  the  House  ;  while  the  provincial  governments, 
fearing  that  the  royal  prerogative  would  have  too  prevailing  an 
influence,  united  in  the  same  decision  from  opposite  principles. 


\ 


258  THIS   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

The  maturing  and  adopting  of  this  important  scheme  in  North 
America,  was  reserved  for  her  separate  and  independent  author- 
ity, in  the  year  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  eighty-eight. 
Repeated  renewals  of  their  military  conventions,  accustomed 
men's  minds  to  the  idea  of  centralization ;  and,  when  the  final 
struggle  with  the  parent  country  commenced,  the  machinery  to 
be  made  use  of  for  combination,  was  so  familiar  to  the  Provin- 
cials, that  they  had  but  to  follow  the  example  of  their  fore- 
fathers. 

•  Notwithstanding  the  very  large  subsidies  granted  to  the  colo- 
nies by  Parliament,  under  the  appellation  of  reimbursements  for 
the  payment  and  subsistence  of  their  levies,  and  the  advantages 
they  derived  from  such  enormous  expenditure,  they  never  let  an 
opportunity  pass  to  make  their  compliance  with  requisitions,  the 
means  of  extorting  from  the  governors  concessions  to  some  acts 
of  usurpation.  An  attempt  of  this  kind  was  made  by  Massa- 
chusetts upon  Lord  Loudon,  the  commander-in-chief,  by  refusing 
to  quarter  and  billet  the  troops  according  to  the  terms  of  an  act 
of  Parliament,  alleging  that  its  provisions  did  not  extend  to 
America.  He  was,  however,  in  a  different  position  from  a  de- 
pendent and  powerless  governor.  He  had  an  army  to  enforce 
his  authority,  and  therefore  wrote  to  the  General  Court,  that 
having  used  gentleness  and  patience,  and  confuted  their  argu- 
ments without  effect,  their  want  of  complying  would  place  him 
under  the  necessity  of  taking  measures  to  prevent  the  whole  con- 
tinent from  being  thrown  into  confusion.  As  nothing  was  want- 
ing to  set  things  right,  but  the  Justices  doing  their  duty  (for  no 
act  of  the  Assembly  was  necessary  for  it),  he  had  ordered  the 
messenger  to  remain  only  forty-eight  hours  in  Boston  ;  and  if  on 
his  return  he  found  things  not  settled,  he  would  instantly  order 
into  the  town  the  three  battalions  from  New  York,  Long  Island, 
and  Connecticut ;  and,  if  more  were  wanting,  he  had  two  in  the 
Jerseys  at  hand,  besides  those  in  Pennsylvania.  As  public  busi- 
ness obliged  him  to  take  another  route,  he  added,  he  had  no  more 
time  left  to  settle  this  material  affair,  and  must  take  the  neces- 
sary steps  before  his  departure,  in  case  they  were  not  done  by 
themselves.  This  produced  the  desired  effect  ;  and  a  law  was 
passed,  as  they  said,  "  not  to  enforce  an  act  of  Parliament,  but  to 
supply  measures  in  a  case  that  did  not  reach  them  ;"  "  a  pro- 
ceeding" they  observed,  in  an  address  to  the  governor,  "  which 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  259 

could  never  be  disapproved  of  by  the  Imperial  Legislature,  their 
dependence  upon  which  they  had  never  thought  of  lessening  ;" 
and  concluded  with  this  remarkable  assertion  :  "  that  there  was 
not  a  member  of  the  General  Court,  nor  did  they  know  of  an 
inhabitant  within  their  jurisdiction,  who  ever  questioned  this 
authority." 

Persons  holding  office  not  entirely  under  the  control  of  the 
General  Court,  were  not  so  well  supported  as  the  commander-in- 
chief  of  a  large  army  ;  and  if  the  Assembly  had  been  humiliated 
itself,  it  was  now  determined  to  retaliate  on  others.  Their  first 
attack  was  upon  the  judges,  whose  salaries,  as  some  indemnifica- 
tion for  their  own  defeat,  they  reduced.  This  was  followed  up 
by  a  systematic  course  of  misrepresentation  and  abuse,  conduct 
which,  it  has  ever  been  observed,  precedes  revolutions.  The 
object  of  this  persecution  was  rather  to  increase  the  odium  attach- 
ing to  the  imperial  laws,  which  they  had  to  administer,  than  to 
gratify  personal  animosity ;  but  the  Custom  House  officers  they 
hated,  not  merely  as  the  instruments  of  oppression,  but  as  men 
who  took  delight  in  their  annoyance.  Their  duty  was  odious  in 
itself,  and  a  zeal  to  merit  the  approbation  of  the  Ministry,  and  to 
accumulate  wealth,  induced  them  to  exercise  a  rigor  in  enforc- 
ing the  commercial  laws  which  added  much  to  the  unpopularity 
connected  with  their  business.  The  antipathy  soon  became  per- 
sonal, and  the  execution  of  the  laws  appeared  like  the  triumph 
of  private  revenge.  A  committee  reported  that  a  sum  of  £475 
9s.  lid.  a  portion  of  forfeitures  awarded  by  law  to  the  province, 
was  unjustly  detained,  and  the  House  desired  the  treasurer  to  sue 
the  collector  of  the  port  for  its  recovery.  To  this  the  governor 
refused  his  consent,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the 
treasurer  merely  to  receive  the  king's  money,  and  that  of  the 
attorney-general  to  sue  for  and  recover  it.  At  this  distance  of 
time,  it  would  be  tedious  to  recapitulate  the  arguments  for  and 
against  the  course  attempted  to  be  pursued  by  the  House ;  it  is 
merely  necessary  to  state  that,  as  usual,  the  delegates  succeeded. 
They  extorted  a  reluctant  consent,  given  under  protest,  in  which 
the  governor  expressed  a  hope  that  they  would  not  require  of  him 
such  another  proof  of  his  great  desire  for  preserving  a  good  under- 
standing with  them.  After  an  expensive  course  of  litigation, 
the  judgment  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  given  against  the  treas- 
urer, which  still  further  increased  the  popular  dislike  to  the  Board. 


260  THE   ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

About  the  same  time,  and  from  the  same  principles  and  feel- 
ings, arose  another  important  dispute.  One  of  the  Custom  House 
officers  petitioned  the  Supreme  Court  of  Judicature,  stating  that 
they  could  not  fully  exercise  their  offices  in  such  a  manner  as  his 
Majesty's  service,  and  the  laws  in  such  case  required,  and  pray- 
ing the  court  would  grant  writs  of  assistance  to  aid  them  in  the 
execution  of  their  duty,  according  to  the  usage  of  the  Court  of 
Exchequer  in  Great  Britain.  Mr.  Gridley,  as  King's  Attorney, 
maintained  the  legality  of  this  writ,  as  well  by  the  practice  of 
the  Exchequer,  as  by  that  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  province. 
The  practice  in  England,  he  asserted,  was  supported  by  statutes 
12th  and  13th  Charles  II.,  and  by  6th  Anne,  which  continues 
all  processes,  and  writs  of  assistance  among  the  rest.  The  au- 
thority of  the  Supreme  Court  to  grant  this  writ  was  founded  upon 
the  statute  of  7th  and  8th  William  III.,  which  enacted,  that  all 
the  officers  for  collecting  and  managing  his  Majesty's  revenues, 
and  inspecting  the  plantation  trade  in  any  of  the  provinces,  should 
have  the  same  powers,  &c.  as  are  provided  for  the  officers  of  the 
revenue  in  England  ;  as  also  to  enter  houses  and  warehouses  to 
search  for,  and  seize  any  such  goods,  and  that  the  like  assistance 
should  be  given  to  the  said  officers  as  is  the  custom  in  England. 

Mr.  Otis  appeared  for  the  inhabitants  of  Boston,  who  had  pre- 
sented a  counter  petition.  As  his  speech  discloses  several  curious 
facts,  and  presents  a  striking  picture  of  the  partisan  zeal  of  the 
lawyers  of  that  day,  as  well  as  a  good  specimen  of  the  ability 
and  eloquence  of  the  Massachusetts  bar,  I  insert  copious  ex- 
tracts from  what  is  reported  in  Minot : 

"  MAY  IT  PLEASE  YOUR  HONORS, 

"  I  was  desired  by  one  of  the  Court  to  look  into  the  books,  and 
consider  the  question  now  before  them,  concerning  writs  of  assist- 
ance. I  have  accordingly  considered  it,  and  now  appear,  not 
only  in  obedience  to  your  orders,  but  likewise  in  behalf  of  the  in- 
habitants of  this  town,  who  have  presented  another  petition,  and 
out  of  regard  to  the  liberties  of  the  subject.  And  I  take  this  op- 
portunity to  declare,  that  whether  under  a  fee  or  not  (for  in  such 
a  case  I  despise  a  fee),  I  will  to  my  dying  day  oppose  with  all  the 
powers  and  faculties  God  has  given  me,  all  such  instruments  of 
slavery  on  the  one  hand,  and  villainy  on  the  other,  as  this  writ  of 
assistance  is. 


THE   ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA.  261 

"  It  appears  to  me  the  worst  instrument  of  arbitrary  power, 
the  most  destructive  of  English  liberty,  and  the  fundamental 
principles  of  law,  that  ever  was  found  in  an  English  law  book. 
I  must,  therefore,  beg  your  honors'  patience  and  attention  to  the 
whole  range  of  an  argument  that  may  perhaps  appear  uncommon 
in  many  things,  as  well  to  points  of  learning,  that  are  more  re- 
mote and  unusual,  that  the  whole  tendency  of  my  design  may 
the  more  easily  be  perceived,  the  conclusion  better  descried,  and 
the  force  of  them  be  better  felt.  I  shall  not  think  much  of  my 
pains  in  this  cause,  as  I  engaged  in  it  from  principle.  I  was 
solicited  to  argue  this  cause  as  advocate-general;  and  because  I 
would  not,  I  have  been  charged  with  desertion  from  my  office. 
To  this  charge  I  can  give  a  very  sufficient  answer.  I  renounce 
that  office,  and  I  argue  this  cause,  from  the  same  principle ;  and 
I  argue  it  with  the  greater  pleasure,  because  it  is  in  favor  of 
British  liberty,  at  a  time  when  we  hear  the  greatest  monarch 
upon  earth  declaring  from  his  throne,  that  he  glories  in  the  name 
of  Briton,  and  that  the  privileges  of  his  people  are  dearer  to  him 
than  the  most  valuable  prerogative  of  his  crown  ;  and  as  it  is  in 
opposition  to  a  kind  of  power,  the  exercise  of  which,  in  former 
periods  of  English  history,  cost  one  king  of  England  his  head,  and 
another  his  throne. 

"  I  have  taken  more  pains  in  this  cause  than  I  ever  will  take 
again,  although  my  engaging  in  this  and  another  popular  cause, 
has  raised  much  excitement.  But  I  think  I  can  sincerely  declare, 
that  I  cheerfully  submit  myself  to  every  odious  name  for  con- 
science sake,  and  from  my  soul  I  despise  all  those  whose  guilt, 
malice,  or  folly,  has  made  them  my  foes.  Let  the  consequences 
be  what  they  will,  I  am  determined  to  proceed.  The  only  prin- 
ciples of  public  conduct,  that  are  worthy  of  a  gentleman,  or  a 
man,  are  to  sacrifice  estate,  ease,  health,  and  applause,  and  even 
life,  to  the  sacred  calls  of  his  country.  These  manly  sentiments 
in  private  life  make  the  good  citizen,  in  public  life  the  patriot 
and  the  hero.  I  do  not  say  that  when  brought  to  the  test,  I 
shall  be  invincible.  I  pray  God,  I  may  never  be  brought  to  the 
melancholy  trial ;  but  if  ever  I  should,  it  will  then  be  known 
how  far  I  can  reduce  to  practice  principles  which  I  know  to  be 
founded  in  truth.  In  the  mean  time,  I  will  proceed  to  the  sub- 
ject of  this  writ. 

"  In  the  first  place  the  writ  is  universal,  being  directed  '  to  alJ 


262  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

and  singular,  the  justices,  sheriffs,  constables,  and  all  other  officers 
and  subjects,'  so  that,  in.  short,  it  is  directed  to  every  subject  in 
the  king's  dominions.  Every  one  with  this  writ  may  be  a  tyrant, 
if  this  commission  be  legal ;  a  tyrant  in  a  legal  maaner  also  may 
control,  imprison,  or  murder  any  one  within  the  realm.  In  the 
next  place  it  is  perpetual,  there  is  no  return.  A  rnan  is  account- 
able to  no  person  for  his  doings.  Every  man  may  reign  secure  in  his 
petty  tyranny,  and  spread  terror  and  desolation  around  him,  until 
the  trump  of  the  arch-angel  shall  excite  different  emotions  in  his 
soul.  In  the  third  place,  a  person  with  this  writ,  in  the  day 
time,  may  enter  all  houses,  shops,  &c.,  at  will,  and  command  all 
to  assist  him.  Fourthly,  by  this  writ,  not  only  deputies,  &c.,  but 
even  their  menial  servants  are  allowed  to  lord  it  over  us.  What 
is  this  but  to  have  the  curse  of  Canaan  with  a  witness  on  us,  to 
be  the  servant  of  servants,  the  most  despicable  of  God's  creatures  1 
"  Now  one  of  the  most  essential  branches  of  English  liberty  is 
the  freedom  of  one's  house.  A  man's  house  is  his  castle ;  and 
while  he  is  quiet,  he  is  as  well  guarded  as  a  prince  in  his  castle. 
This  writ,  if  it  should  be  declared  legal,  would  entirely  annihilate 
this  privilege.  Custom  House  officers  may  enter  our  houses  when 
they  please.  We  are  commanded  to  permit  their  entry.  Their 
menial  servants  may  enter,  may  break  locks,  bars,  and  every 
thing  in  their  way,  and  whether  they  break  through  malice  or 
revenge,  no  man,  no  court  can  inquire.  Bare  suspicion  without 
oath  is  sufficient. 

"  This  wanton  exercise  of  this  power  is  not  a  chemical  sugges- 
tion of  a  heated  brain.  I  will  mention  some  facts.  Mr.  Pew 
had  one  of  these  writs,  and  when  Mr.  Ware  succeeded  him,  he 
endorsed  this  writ  over  to  Mr.  Ware,  so  that  these  writs  are 
negotiable  from  one  officer  to  another,  and  so  your  honors  have 
no  opportunity  of  judging  the  persons  to  whom  this  vast  power  is 
delegated.  Another  instance  is  this ;  Mr.  Justice  Wally  had 
called  this  same  Mr.  Ware  before  him  by  a  constable,  to  answer 
for  a  breach  of  Sabbath-day  acts,  or  that  of  profane  swearing. 
As  soon  as  he  had  finished,  Mr.  Ware  asked  him  if  he  had  done. 
He  replied,  yes.  Well,  then,  said  Mr.  Ware,  I  will  show  you  a 
little  of  my  power.  I  command  you  to  permit  me  to  search  your 
house  for  uncustomed  goods,  and  went  on  to  search  his  house  from 
garret  to  cellar,  and  then  served  the  constable  in  the  same  man- 
ner. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  263 

"  But  to  show  another  absurdity  in  this  writ,  if  it  should  be 
established,  I  insist  upon  it,  every  person,  by  the  14th  Charles 
II.,  has  this  power  as  well  as  Custom  House  officers.  The  words 
are :  '  It  shall  be  lawful  for  any  person  or  persons  authorized,' 
&c.  What  a  scene  does  this  open !  Every  man,  prompted  by 
revenge,  ill-humor,  or  wantonness  to  inspect  the  inside  of  his 
neighbor's  house,  may  get  a  writ  of  assistance.  Others  will  ask 
it  from  self-defense,  one  arbitrary  exertion  will  provoke  another, 
until  society  be  involved  in  tumult  and  blood." 

Notwithstanding  these  and  many  more  arguments  were  enforced, 
with  a  zeal  peculiar  to  the  spirit  of  the  occasion,  and  the  manners 
of  the  pleaders,  the  writ  of  assistance  was  granted.  In  the  midst 
of  these  disputes  occurred  the  peace  of  1763,  which,  though  it 
produced  a  temporary  calm,  ultimately  transferred  hostilities  from 
the  confines  to  the  very  heart  of  the  colonies 


CHAPTER  IV. 

HISTORICAL    SKETCH  OF   EVENTS    FROM    1763    TO    THE    REPEAL    OF 
THE    STAMP   ACT   IN  "17C6. 

Reasoning  of  the  English  and  the  Colonists  on  the  Subject  of  Raising  a  Revenue 
in  America — Attacks  on  the  English  Clergy  in  Massachusetts  and  Virginia — 
Patrick  Henry's  Conduct — Navy  Officers  ordered  to  enforce  the  Laws  of  Trade 
Mr.  Grenville's  Plan  of  Taxation — Inter-colonial  Trade  stopped — Sugar  Act 
passed — Clause  authorizing  Suits  in  Admiralty  Courts — Theories  of  different 
Parties  as  to  Power  of  Parliament  to  tax  Colonies — Publications  in  Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode  Island,  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  other  Colonies  against  Tax- 
ation— Representation  in  Parliament  abandoned — Conciliatory  Act  ineffectual 
— Arguments  against  the  Measure — Speeches  of  Col.  Barre  and  Patrick  Henry 
— News  of  Stamp  Act  having  passed  is  received — Effect  of  it  at  Boston  and 
elsewhere — Riots  in  Boston,  New  York,  and  other  Places — Non-importation 
Association — General  Court  recommends  a  Congress — Declaration  of  Rights 
— Congress  assembles  at  New  York,  and  appoints  a  Speaker — Change  in 
the  English  Ministry — Repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act — Singular  Form  of  Act  of  In- 
demnity passed  by  General  Court. 

THE  common  object  the  English  and  the  Provincials  had  in 
view,  which  had  hitherto  cemented  their  union,  having  been  ob- 
tained by  the  overthrow  of  the  French  power  in  America,  they 
cordially  congratulated  each  other  on  their  success.  Flushed 
with  victory,  both  claimed  a  full  share  of  the  merit  of  the  tri- 
umph, and  of  the  sacrifice  of  life  and  treasure  at  which  it  was 
obtained  ;  but  their  attention  was  soon  withdrawn  from  their 
conquests  to  their  own  relative  position  and  rights.  Great  Britain 
lamented  over  the  enormous  expense  of  the  war,  and  argued  that, 
having  relieved  the  colonies  of  a  formidable  and  relentless  foe, 
and  enlarged  their  boundaries,  it  was  but  reasonable  they  should 
contribute  to  the  reduction  of  the  national  debt,  so  greatly  in- 
creased in  their  defense,  as  well  as  defray,  for  the  future,  the  cost 
of  their  own  government. 

To  this  it  was  answered,  You  have  not  extended  our  territory, 
but  added  to  your  own  empire.  Had  it  not  been  for  your  am- 
bitious wars  in  which,  as  dependencies,  we  have  been  unhappily 
involved,  we  should  have  preserved  a  friendly  relation  with  our 
Gallic  neighbors,  and  sustained  a  most  advantageous  and  profit- 
able trade  with  them.  We  were  powerful  enough  to  resist 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  265 

aggression,  and  punish  insult,  arid  could  have  defended  ourselves, 
as  heretofore,  without  your  assistance.  If  your  expenses  have 
been  large,  ours  have  been  altogether  beyond  our  means,  and 
evince  a  generous  participation  in  your  undertakings,  that  justly 
entitles  us  both  to  gratitude  and  remuneration.  Thirty  thousand 
colonial  soldiers  have  perished  in  the  struggle,  by  disease,  or  the 
sword.  We  have  expended  more  than  sixteen  millions  of  dollars, 
only  five  millions  of  which  have  been  reimbursed  by  Parliament. 
Massachusetts  alone  has  kept  annually  in  the  field  from  four  to 
seven  thousand  men,  besides  furnishing  garrisons,  and  supplying 
recruits  to  the  regular  army,  and  expended  two  millions  and  a 
half  of  dollars  over  and  above  the  advances  from  the  military 
chest.  The  small  colony  of  Connecticut  has,  during  the  same 
period,  raised  two  millions  of  dollars,  while  the  outstanding  debt 
alone  of  New  York  amounts  to  nearly  a  million.  If  the  southern 
plantations  have  been  less  profuse,  they  have  far  exceeded  all 
former  experience,  for  Virginia,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  had  an 
outstanding  debt  of  two  hundred  thousand  pounds. 

Beyond  this  the  new  argument  became  personal  and  bitter, 
for  men  more  easily  forgive  an  injury  than  an  insult.  The  ir- 
regular levies  of  New  England  troops,  though  hardy,  brave,  and 
admirably  suited  for  American  warfare,  made  a  sorry  and  gro- 
tesque appearance  on  parade ;  and  the  primitive  manners,  nasal 
pronunciation,  and  variegated  and  antique  clothing  of  both  offi- 
cers and  men,  subjected  them  to  the  ill-concealed  ridicule,  or  open 
insolence  of  the  British  army.  On  their  part  they  knew  and  felt, 
that  if  they  were  inferior  in  drill  and  equipments  to  the  regulars , 
they  infinitely  excelled  them  in  the  field,  and  pointed  with  grea  t 
complacency  to  the  numerous  instances  in  which  they  covered 
their  retreat,  extricated  them  from  ambush,  and  opened  the  way 
for  their  success.  Much  of  the  same  arrogant  assumption  is  still 
unhappily  exhibited  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Old  World,  on 
visiting  the  New,  and  with  a  similar  unpleasant  result. 

The  war  had  thus,  as  has  been  before  observed,  filled  the  prov- 
inces with  soldiers  and  officers,  all  accustomed  to  active  service, 
and  an  efficient,  resolute,  and  experienced  militia,  who  formed  a 
formidable  body  of  men,  trained  to  regard  a  resort  to  arms  as  a 
natural  and  effectual  means  of  deciding  disputes.  What  the 
scheme  of  the  English  Ministry  was  for  governing  America,  or 
raising  a  revenue  from  it,  no  one  yet  knew ;  but  every  body  was 

M 


266  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

aware  that  some  such  intention,  whether  matured  or  not,  was 
seriously  entertained.  Men's  minds  were  filled  with  doubts  and 
fears,  and  the  Puritans,  as  of  old,  endeavored  to  increase  the  gen- 
eral discontent,  by  asserting  that  it  was  the  intention  of  Govern- 
ment to  subject  them  all  to  the  hierarchy.  In  Massachusetts  it 
had  the  effect  (probably  the  only  one  designed,  for  there  was  no 
endowment  to  attack  or  confiscate)  of  still  more  alienating  parties, 
and  keeping  alive  the  animosity,  unhappily  but  too  deeply  rooted, 
of  the  people  against  England,  her  institutions,  and  her  author- 
ity, lu  Virginia  the  case  was  different,  for  there  was  a  stipend 
established  by  law,  and  the  Dissenters  and  Democrats  used  all 
their  influence  to  deprive  the  clergy,  who  were  loyalists,  of  their 
means  of  support.  The  "  parsons'  due,"  as  it  was  called,  was, 
owing  to  the  scarcity  of  gold  and  silver,  made  payable  in  tobacco, 
and  came  therefore  within  the  class  of  claims  popularly  called, 
"  Tobacco  debts."  A  short  crop  having  enhanced  the  value  of 
that  staple,  a  temporary  act  was  passed,  authorizing  the  payment 
of  all  such  claims,  at  two-pence  per  pound  weight.  Subsequently, 
under  pretense  of  an  expected  failure,  a  temporary  law,  com- 
monly called  the  "  Tender  Act,"  was  revived,  whereby  the  incomes 
of  the  clergy  were  very  materially  reduced.  This  law,  by  the 
assistance  of  Sherlock,  Bishop  of  London,  was  disallowed  by  the 
king,  and  suits  were  accordingly  brought  to  recover  the  difference 
between  the  real  value  of  the  article  and  the  fictitious  standard. 
It  was  on  the  trial  of  one  of  these  causes  that  Patrick  Henry, 
afterward  so  celebrated,  was  first  brought  into  notice.  Knowing 
that  the  law  and  the  court  were  both  opposed  to  such  a  flagitious 
defense,  be  trusted  to  his  powers  of  declamation,  which  were  of 
no  ordinary  kind,  and  with  such  topics  as  religious  liberty,  the 
sacred  rights  of  freemen,  the  odious  royal  veto,  and  the  bless- 
ing of  self-government  on  the  one  hand,  and  an  excited  audience 
and  interested  jurors  on  the  other,  he  succeeded,  by  obtaining  a 
verdict,  in  denuding  the  law  of  its  power,  and  the  clergy  of  their 
subsistence.  The  Assembly  even  went  so  far  as  to  vote  moneys 
to  defend  any  further  actions  that  the  parsons  might  bring,  who 
were  thus  compelled,  notwithstanding  their  clear  legal  right,  to 
submit  to  the  unjust  spoliation. 

Distrust  and  disaffection  were  generally  diffused  throughout  the 
country ;  and  the  rashness  and  indecision,  open  aggression,  and 
ill-timed  conciliation  of  the  Eixglish  Ministry,  soon  supplied  abund- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  267 

ant  materials  for  agitation.  The  agent  of  Massachusetts  had 
informed  the  General  Court  that,  at  the  commencement  of  the 
late  hostilities,  the  Board  of  Trade  had  proposed  a  scheme  of 
transatlantic  taxation.  In  the  course  of  the  war,  Pitt  had  inti- 
mated to  more  than  one  colonial  governor,  that  when  it  was  over, 
the  authority  of  Parliament  would  be  invoked,  to  extort  from 
America  the  means  of  its  own  support.  Peace  was  no  sooner 
proclaimed  than  his  successor  hastened  to  mature  a  somewhat 
similar  plan.  Less  difficulty  was  felt  in  asserting  the  right,  than 
in  devising  means  for  putting  it  into  execution.  Still  it  was  a 
question  how  it  could  be  effected,  without  irretrievably  alienating 
the  natives.  Duties  on  trade  afforded  the  easiest,  because  a  well- 
known  and  accustomed  mode  ;  while  the  objections  to  direct  and 
internal  taxation  appeared  almost  insuperable.  Even  the  first 
mode,  it  was  obvious,  would  be  attended  with  great  difficulty  in 
the  collection.  There  would  be  frequent  evasions  or  infractions 
of  the  law ;  and  nothing  short  of  a  military  force  would  insure 
success  ;  but  a  standing  army  often  thousand  men,  it  was  thought, 
would  overawe  all  opposition. 

No  time,  therefore,  was  lost  in  exacting  a  rigid  compliance 
with  the  regulations  of  trade.  Orders  were  issued  to  the  officers 
of  the  navy  in  America,  vigilantly  to  enforce  the  several  acts  of 
Parliament  on  that  subject.  Nothing  could  be  more  vexatious 
than  the  manner  in  which  these  instructions  were  executed,  and 
nothing  more  impolitic  than  the  measure  itself;  for  it  degraded 
the  officers  in  their  own  eyes,  by  transforming  them  into  tide- 
waiters  and  Custom  House  officials,  and  at  the  same  time  ren- 
dered them  excessively  obnoxious  to  the  Provincials.  They  were 
not  only  uninformed  of  the  cases  in  which  ships  were  liable  to 
penalties,  but  of  those  in  which  they  were  exempt  from  deten- 
tion, and  therefore  obstructed  the  trade, 'without  increasing  the 
revenue.  The  evil  was  aggravated  by  the  difficulty  of  redress. 
The  Board  in  England  could  aloue  give  relief,  and  the  expense 
and  delay  of  restitution,  or  satisfaction,  often  exceeded  the  original 
amount  of  the  loss. 

At  that  time  a  very  lucrative  trade  was  carried  on  between  the 
American  provinces  and  the  colonies  of  Spain,  and  from  New 
England  to  the  French  West  India  Islands.  In  the  former,  the 
merchant  exchanged  either  British  or  their  own  manufactures  for 
gold  and  silver,  medical  drugs,  dye  stuffs,  and  live  stock.  In  the 


268  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

latter  they  bartered  their  surplus  goods  and  native  productions  for 
the  rum,  sugar,  molasses,  and  money  of  the  planters,  both  which 
branches  of  commerce  were  extremely  profitable.  This  inter- 
course, though  opposed  to  the  letter  of  the  acts  of  trade,  had  been 
heretofore  openly  connived  at  by  the  Custom  House  officials,  but 
was  now  totally  put  an  end  to  by  the  naval  commanders,  who, 
urged  on  by  the  prospect  of  prize-money,  seized  indiscriminately 
the  ships  engaged  in  it,  whether  belonging  to  subjects  or  foreigners. 
Immediately  afterward,  and  while  the  public  mind  was  agitated 
by  these  vexatious  proceedings,  the  attempt  to  raise  a  revenue, 
was  openly  announced  and  acted  upon,  imposts  being  resorted  to 
in  the  first  instance.  In  the  year  1764,  Mr.  Grenville  brought 
beforer  Parliament  his  plan  for  raising  a  transatlantic  revenue. 
He  stated  that,  during  the  last  four  years  sixty-three  millions  had 
been  added  to  the  national  debt,  a  great  part  of  which  had  been 
incurred  for  the  necessary  expenses  of  the  war  in  America ;  that 
such  was  the  state  of  the  public  finances,  that  it  was  necessary 
every  part  of  the  empire  should  contribute,  according  to  its  means, 
to  lighten  the  public  burden  ;  that  the  charge  of  the  Government 
in  the  plantations  was  £350,000  per  annum,  and  that  it  was 
but  reasonable  that  those  who  derived  all  the  benefit  of  the 
expenditure,  should  submit  to  be  taxed  for  its  repayment.  He 
then  submitted  several  resolutions,  to  the  following  effect :  That 
duties  be  laid  on  various  enumerated  foreign  articles,  imported 
from  any  place  (excepting  in  some  cases  from  Great  Britain)  into 
the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in  America;  and  a  duty 
upon  other  articles,  the  produce  of  the  colonies,  exported  to  any 
other  place  than  Great  Britain ;  that  a  duty  of  three-pence 
sterling  per  gallon  be  laid  on  molasses  and  syrups,  and  an  addi- 
tional duty  upon  white  sugars  of  the  growth  of  any  foreign 
American  plantation,  imported  into  the  British  colonies  ;  that  the 
produce  of  the  duties  so  to  be  laid,  to  be  paid  into  the  Exchequer, 
and  there  reserved,  to  be  from  time  to  time  disposed  of  by  Par- 
liament, toward  defraying  the  necessary  expenses  of  defending, 
protecting,  and  securing  the  British  colonies  and  plantations  in 
America ;  and  that  toward  further  defraying  the  said  expenses,  it 
might  be  proper  to  charge  certain  stamp  duties  in  the  colonies. 
A  bill  was  accordingly  brought  in  and  enacted  for  imposing  the 
duties  as  resolved  upon,  except  .is  to  stamps,  which  was  postponed 
to  the  next  year,  as  the  Massachusetts  agent  reported  "  in  com- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  269 

plaisance  to  the  colonies,  to  give  them  an  opportunity  to  pass 
it  themselves,  or  some  other  equivalent,"  Mr.  Grenville  being 
willing,  as  he  expressed  himself,  "  to  consult  the  ease,  the  quiet, 
and  good- will  of  the  colonies."  In  all  this  legislation  the  remon- 
strance of  America  was  avoided  by  a  rule  of  the  House  of 
Commons  not  to  receive  any  petition  against  a  money  bill.  This 
practice  was  founded  on  the  principle  of  the  people  who  were  to 
pay  the  tax  being  present  by  their  delegates  in  Parliament,  and 
evidently  proved  the  absurdity  of  the  case  before  them,  wherein 
they  were  the  only  party  neither  actually  nor  virtually  represented. 

This  act,  commonly  called  the  molasses  or  sugar  act,  imposed 
a  duty  of  three-pence  instead  of  sixpence,  which  had  previously 
existed,  but  had  never  been  collected ;  and  instead,  therefore,  of 
being  a  boon  and  a  reduction  of  a  tax,  as  represented  by  Gren- 
ville, virtually  created  a  new  and  most  oppressing  burden.  Its 
rigid  enforcement  by  the  navy  officers  created  the  utmost  con- 
sternation among  the  people,  who  loudly  and  indignantly  com- 
plained, that  it  had  been  passed  without  notice,  whereby  they 
were  deprived  of  all  opportunity  of  stating  their  objections  to  it. 

The  magnitude  of  the  trade,  thus  obstructed  or  ruined,  is  ex- 
pounded at  length  in  the  instructions  given  by  Massachusetts  to  her 
agent  in  London.  He  was  desired  to  urge  on  the  Government 
that  the  business  of  the  fishery,  which  would  be  broken  up  by  the 
act,  was  estimated  in  Massachusetts  alone  at  one  hundred  and 
sixty-four  thousand  pounds,  and  the  vessels  employed  in  it,  which 
would  be  nearly  useless,  at  one  hundred  thousand  pounds ;  the 
provisions  consumed  in  it,  the  casks  for  packing  fish,  and  other 
articles,  at  twenty-two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  upward ;  to 
all  which  there  was  to  be  added  the  loss  of  the  advantage  of 
sending  lumber,  horses,  provisions,  and  other  commodities  to  the 
foreign  plantations  as  cargoes,  the  vessels  employed  to  carry  fish 
to  Spain  and  Portugal,  the  dismissing  of  five  thousand  seamen 
from  their  employment,  the  effects  of  the  annihilation  of  the 
fishery  upon  the  trade  of  the  province  and  of  the  mother-country 
in  general,  and  its  accumulative  evils  by  increasing  the  rival 
fisheries  of  France.  This  was  forcibly  stated,  as  it  represented 
the  means  of  remittances  to  England  for  goods  imported  into  the 
province,  which  had  been  made  in  specie  to  the  amount  of  one 
hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  sterling,  besides  ninety  thou- 
sand in  the  treasurer's  bills  for  the  reimbursement  money  within 


270  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

the  last  eighteen  months.  The  sources,  they  said,  for  obtain- 
ing this  money  were  through  foreign  countries,  by  the  means 
of  the  fishery,  and  would  be  cut  off  with  the  trade  to  their 
plantations. 

The  Minister,  foreseeing  the  unpopularity  of  the  act,  inserted 
a  clause  to  secure  its  execution,  which  proved  to  be  as  objection- 
able, respecting  the  rights  of  Americans,  as  its  general  principles. 
Penalties  for  the  breach  of  this  act,  or  any  other  relating  to  the 
trade  and  revenues  of  the  British  colonies,  incurred  in  America, 
were  made  recoverable  in  any  Court  of  Record  or  in  any  Court 
of  Admiralty  in  the  colony  where  the  offense  should  be  committed, 
or  in  any  Court  of  Vice- Admiralty,  which  might  be  appointed 
over  all  America,  at  the  election  of  the  informer  or  prosecutor. 
Thus  a  trial  by  jury  might  be  taken  away,  and  a  defendant  might 
be  forced  from  one  end  of  the  continent  to  another  to  support  his 
claim  in  a  Court  of  Vice-Admiralty,  at  an  expense,  perhaps, 
beyond  the  value  of  the  property  in  question.  And,  after  all,  the 
act  provided  that  he  should  recover  neither  costs  nor  damages,  if 
the  judge  should  certify  that  there  was  probable  cause  of  seizure. 

In  the  letter  of  instructions  of  the  General  Court  to  their  agent, 
before  referred  to,  founded  on  several  letters  from  him,  in  which 
he  had  misconstrued  their  silence  upon  the  business  of  the  tax  on 
molasses,  and  even  the  quartering  of  ten  thousand  troops  in  the 
colonies,  into  an  assent  to  those  measures,  they  observed  that  the 
sudden  passing  of  the  Sugar  Act,  and  continuing  a  heavy  duty  on 
that  branch  of  their  commerce,  was  far  from  proving  that  any 
solid  foundation  existed  for  a  hope  which  he  had  expressed,  that 
a  general  disposition  would  be  found  to  serve  the  colonies,  and  not 
to  distress  them  ;  that  no  agent  of  the  province  had  power  to 
make  concessions  in  any  case  without  distinct  orders ;  and  that 
the  silence  of  the  province  should  have  been  imputed  to  any  cause, 
even  to  despair,  rather  than  to  have  been  construed  into  a  tacit 
cession  of  their  rights,  or  an  acknowledgment  of  a  power  in  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  to  impose  duties  and  taxes  upon  a 
people  who  are  not  represented  in  the  House  of  Commons  ;  that 
they  were  still  more  surprised  at  his  letter  respecting  the  quarter- 
ing of  an  army  on  the  colonies.  "  We  conceive,"  said  they,  "  no- 
thing could  restrain  your  liberty  of  opposing  so  burdensome  a 
scheme.  What  merit  could  there  be  in  a  submission  to  so  un- 
constitutional a  measure  ?  It  is  time  enough  to  make  a  virtue 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  271 

of  necessity  when  we  are  compelled  to  submit  to  so  unreasonable 
an  establishment.  We  are  extremely  obliged  to  Mr.  Grenville 
for  his  kindest  expressions  of  regard  to  the  colonies  ;  but  we  can 
not  conceive  it  any  favor  that  he  will  not  think  of  any  thing  from 
America  for  the  relief  of  Great  Britain.  Nor  can  we  conceive  it 
to  be  exactly  agreeable  to  equity  and  justice  that  America  should 
be  at  the  whole  charge  of  its  government  and  defense.  If  all  the 
colonists  are  to  be  taxed  at  pleasure,  without  any  representative 
in  Parliament,  what  will  there  be  to  distinguish  them  in  point 
of  liberty,  from  the  subjects  of  the  most  absolute  prince  ?  For 
besides  maintaining  internal  provincial  civil  government  among 
themselves,  they  must  pay  toward  the  support  of  the  civil  and 
military  governments  in  Great  Britain.  Now  it  is  conceived  that 
no  people  on  earth  are  doubly  taxed  for  the  support  of  govern- 
ment." As  to  the  deferring  of  the  Stamp  Act,  they  observed 
that,  "  the  first  offer  of  suspending  it  in  the  manner,  and  upon  the 
conditions  mentioned,  amounted  to  no  more  than  this,  that  if  the 
colonies  would  not  tax  themselves  as  they  might  be  directed,  the 
Parliament  would  compel  obedience." 

The  fixing  the  duty  on  molasses  at  three-pence  per  gallon, 
seemed  to  them  repugnant  to  the  assurance  given  by  the  Ministry, 
that  the  colonies  were  not  to  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  gov- 
ernment at  home  ;  for  if  America  were  to  be  assessed  for  her  own 
more  immediate  wants  and  protection  only,  and  two-pence  might 
yield  enough  for  that,  to  what  purpose  would  it  be  to  lay  three- 
pence ?  and  the  duty,  in  all  good  policy,  should  have  been  low 
at  first,  if  it  was  right  to  lay  any,  and  it  might  have  been  subse- 
quently increased  by  degrees.  But  the  business,  if  it  would  sus- 
tain any  impost,  would  admit  only  of  a  light  duty.  They  stated 
that  Ireland  was  a  conquered  country,  which  was  not  the  case 
with  the  northern  colonies,  except  Canada ;  yet  no  duties  had 
been  levied  on  it  by  the  British  Parliament.  No  internal  nor 
external  taxes  had  been  assessed  upon  the  people  than  by  their 
own  legislature,  although  many  prohibitions  have  been  made. 
That  laying  these  restraints  on  dominions  not  represented  in  Par- 
liament, should  be  exercised  with  great  moderation  ;  but  that 
this  had  better  be  exercised  with  the  utmost  rigor,  than  the  pow- 
er of  taxing,  for  this  last  was  the  grand  barrier  of  British  liberty ; 
which  if  once  broken  down,  all  was  lost ;  that,  in  a  word,  a  peo- 
ple might  be  free  and  tolerably  happy  without  a  particular  branch 


272  ,  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

of  trade,  but  without  the  privilege  of  assessing  their  own  taxes, 
they  could  he  neither. 

The  invitation  given  to  the  other  colonies  to  associate  in  their 
opposition  to  the  ministerial  system  of  revenue,  constituted  an  im- 
portant leading  measure  in  the  revolution  of  the  country,  and  has 
been  denominated  a  declaration  of  rights,  and  a  proclamation  of 
political  war  between  the  patriots  and  the  friends  of  the  British 
Government  in  Massachusetts.  As  the  controversy  increased, 
the  ground  of  the  disputants  became  narrowed.  Hitherto  there 
had  been  three  different  theories  held  on  the  subject  of  the  power 
of  Parliament.  The  Ministry  had  recently  asserted  its  right  to 
bind  America  in  all  cases  whatever.  The  opposition  parties  in 
the  colonies  conceded  to  it,  in  general  terms,  a  superintending 
power  to  enact  laws  and  regulations  for  the  public  good,  in  mat- 
ters external,  but  denied  its  right  to  levy  taxes.  The  people 
held  it  to  be  their  essential  right,  as  Englishmen,  not  to  be  sub- 
ject to  any  tax,  but  what  they  had  a  voice  in  laying,  in  person 
or  by  their  representatives ;  maintaining  that  this  principle  had 
been  admitted  in  practice,  by  the  colonies  being  allowed  civil 
governments  of  their  own,  who  had  always  voted  supplies  to  the 
king  greater  than  their  proportion  of  the  national  expenditure, 
and  were  supported  by  their  constituents ;  and  affirmed  that  their 
representatives  in  these  governments  were  the  only  proper  judges 
of  their  ability  to  grant  money,  a  British  House  of  Commons 
being  at  too  great  a  distance  to  be  well  informed,  and  too  much 
interested  in  laying  heavy  burdens  upon  the  colonies,  in  order  to 
lighten  their  own. 

The  loyalists,  for  the  sake  of  British  connection,  and  to  pre- 
serve the  peace  of  the  country,  were  willing  to  submit  to  the 
power  thus  assumed  by  Parliament,  but  differed  from  the  Gov- 
ernment as  to  the  mode  of  raising  the  revenue.  The  Ministry 
were  desirous  of  receiving  the  proceeds  through  the  exchequer, 
the  royal  party  for  raising  and  appropriating  them  in  the  coun- 
try, while  some  were  for  accommodating  matters  by  proposing  to 
leave  external  taxes  to  Government,  and  retaining  all  internal 
ones  at  home.  As  the  temper  of  the  opposition  became  irritated, 
their  indisposition  to  make  any  concessions  whatever  became 
more  and  more  apparent.  A  strong  and  energetic  pamphlet,  re- 
cently published  by  Mr.  Otis,  of  Boston,  entitled,  "  The  righ'1*  of 
the  British  colonies  asserted,"  was  read  and  approved  of  b)  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  273 

Assembly  of  Massachusetts.  In  this  work  the  author  scouted 
the  distinction  hitherto  generally  admitted  between  external  and 
internal  taxes ;  meaning  in  the  one  case  impositions  on  trade,  and 
in  the  other,  on  land  or  personal  property.  If  trade  might  be 
taxed,  he  said,  without  the  consent  of  the  colonists,  so  might  real 
estate ;  both  were  pronounced  absolutely  irreconcilable  with  the 
rights  of  Provincials  as  British  subjects,  and  as  men. 

Similar  tracts,  more  or  less  strong,  appeared  at  the  same  time 
in  Rhode  Island,  Maryland,  and  Virginia.  The  House  followed 
up  its  opposition  by  a  petition  to  Parliament.  The  resistance  of 
Massachusetts  to  the  new  Sugar  Act  was  echoed  from  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Connecticut ;  while  the  address  from  the  House  of 
Representatives  of  New  York  was  couched  in  such  strong  Ian 
guage,  that  no  member  of  Parliament  could  be  found  to  present 
it.  Rhode  Island  adopted  the  same  energetic  course.  In  Vir- 
ginia, the  representatives  agreed  upon  a  petition  to  the  king,  a 
memorial  to  the  House  of  Lords,  and  a  remonstrance  to  the  Ministry. 

One  of  the  objections  to  the  right  of  Parliament  to  lay  taxes 
on  the  people  in  the  provinces,  and  legislate  for  them  in  other  re- 
spects, was,  that  they  were  not  represented  in  that  body.  It  was 
a  plan  of  some  individuals,  to  have  members  from  the  colonies 
to  sit  in  the  British  House  of  Commons.  The  Ministry  were 
inclined  to  favor  the  measure;  but  it  was  soon  after  perceived 
that  the  representatives  would  be  so  few  in  number,  that  it 
would  be  no  benefit,  and  it  was  never  formally  discussed  in 
Parliament ;  but  after  this  period  it  was  universally  repudiated 
by  the  Provincials  themselves. 

To  counteract  the  probable  unpopularity  of  the  Sugar  Act, 
several  others  were  passed  by  the  Imperial  Government  about 
the  same  time,  to  promote  their  trade,  and  increase  the  inter- 
course of  the  colonies  with  the  mother  country,  such  as  "  a  bill 
for  granting  a  bounty  for  the  importation  of  hemp  from  America 
into  Great  Britain,"  "a  bill  to  encourage  the  whale  fishery,"  and 
another  for  granting  leave  for  a  certain  time  to  export  rice,  from 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia  to  other  parts  of  America,  on  paying 
British  duties.  But  unfortunately  the  disastrous  effect  of  the  re- 
cent regulations  for  a  rigid  enforcement  of  the  laws  of  trade,  by 
stopping  the  supply  of  money  to  the  plantations,  was  certain  and 
immediate,  while  the  beneficial  consequences  of  the  conciliatory 
acts,  if  any,  could  only  be  remote.  They  had  no  effect  whatever, 

M* 


274  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

therefore,  in  withdrawing  m^n's  minds  from  the  present  embar- 
rassments, and  the  great  principle  involved  in  the  dispute. 

Nothing,  however,  could  prevail  on  the  Ministry  to  relinquish 
the  idea  of  internal  taxes,  and  the  Stamp  Act,  though  not  with- 
out considerable  opposition  in  the  Commons,  passed  by  a  majority 
of  five  to  one.  The  London  merchants  concerned  in  the  Ameri- 
can trade,  petitioned  against  it ;  but  a  standing  rule,  not  to  receive 
memorials  against  a  money  bill,  excluded  it  as  well  as  those  of 
the  local  legislatures.  Argument  and  invective  were  both  resort- 
ed to  ineffectually.  Of  the  former,  the  principles  were  that  it 
was  absurd  that  colonists  should  be  still  thought  to  owe  any  sub- 
mission to  the  Parliament,  which  had  not  authority  enough  to 
shield  them  against  the  violence  of  the  executive ;  and  more  ab- 
surd still,  that  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  should  pretend  to 
exercise  over  them  rights,  which  that  very  people  affirmed  they 
might  justly  oppose,  if  claimed  over  themselves  by  others.  That 
it  was  their  birthright,  even  as  the  descendants  of  Englishmen, 
not  to  be  taxed  by  any  but  their  own  representatives  ;  that  the 
people  of  Ireland  were  much  more  virtually  represented  in  the 
Parliament  of  Great  Britain  than  it  was  ever  pretended  the  Pro- 
vincials could  be,  in  consequence  of  the  great  proportion  of  En- 
glishmen possessed  of  estates  and  places  of  trust  there,  and  the 
number  of  Irish  noblemen  and  gentlemen  in  both  Houses  of  the 
Legislature  ;  yet  that,  notwithstanding,  England  never  claimed 
any  right  to  tax  the  people  on  the  ground  of  their  being  thus 
virtually  represented  among  them.  That,  granting  the  British 
Parliament's  right  to  make  laws  for  the  colonies,  and  even  to  tax 
them  without  their  concurrence,  there  lay  many  objections  against 
the  stamps,  inasmuch  as  those  duties  were  laid  gradually  on  the 
people  of  Great  Britain,  while  they  were  to  be  saddled  all  at 
once  with  all  their  increased  weight,  on  those  of  the  colonies  ;* 
that  if  those  duties  were  thought  so  grievous  in  England,  on  ac- 
count of  the  great  variety  of  occasions  in  which  they  were  paya- 
ble, they  must  be  to  the  last  degree  oppressive  in  the  colonies, 
where  the  people  in  general  could  not  be  supposed  so  conversant 
in  matters  of  this  kind.  Numbers  did  not  understand  even  the 
language  of  these  intricate  laws,  so  much  out  of  the  course  of 
what  common  sense  alone  might  suggest  to  them  as  their  duty, 
and  common  honesty  engage  them  to  practice. 
*  Annual  Register. 


THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  275 

Of  the  latter  kind,  was  the  celebrated  speech  of  Colonel  Barre. 
In  reply  to  Townsend,  one  of  the  ministers  who  supported  it,  and 
called  the  colonists  "  children  planted  by  our  care,  nourished  by 
our  indulgence,  and  protected  by  our  arms,"  he  indignantly  an- 
swered, "  They  planted  by  your  care  ?  No,  your  oppressions 
planted  them  in  America.  They  nourished  by  your  indulgence  I 
They  grew  up  by  your  neglect  of  them.  They  protected  by  your 
arms  1  Those  sons  of  liberty  have  nobly  took  up  arms  in  your 
defense.  I  claim  to  know  more  of  America  than  most  of  you, 
having  been  conversant  with  that  country.  The  people,  I  be- 
lieve, are  as  truly  loyal  subjects  as  the  king  has,  but  they  are  a 
people  jealous  of  their  liberties,  and  will  vindicate  them,  should 
they  ever  be  violated.  But  the  subject  is  too  delicate,  I  will  say 
no  more." 

News  reached  Virginia  of  the  passing  of  the  bill,  while  the 
House  was  in  session.  Patrick  Henry,  who  had  previously  ob- 
tained notoriety  by  his  attack  on  the  "  parsons'  dues,"  brought 
forward  a  series  of  resolutions,  claiming  for  the  inhabitants  of 
Virginia  all  the  rights  of  born  British  subjects ;  denying  any 
authority,  except  in  the  Provincial  Assembly,  to  impose  taxes  upon 
them  ;  and  denouncing  the  attempt  to  vest  the  authority  else- 
where, as  inconsistent  with  the  ancient  constitution,  and  subver- 
sive of  British  as  well  as  of  American  liberty.  Upon  the  intro- 
duction of  these  resolutions,  a  hot  debate  took  place.  "  Caesar 
had  his  Brutus,"  said  Henry,  "  Charles  I.  his  Cromwell,  and 

George  III. "     "  Treason  !  treason  !"  shouted  the  Speaker, 

and  the  cry  was  re-echoed  from  the  House.  "  George  III.," 
said  Henry,  firmly,  "  may  profit  by  their  examples.  If  that  be 
treason,  make  the  most  of  it." 

If  the  tax  on  sugar  and  molasses,  to  raise  a  revenue,  was  de- 
nounced as  inconsistent  with  charter  rights,  and  the  principles 
of  British  liberty,  the  Stamp  Act,  by  which  all  printed  or  written 
public  legal  papers  were  liable  to  a  duty,  met  with  still  stronger 
opposition.  It  was  considered  as  an  internal  tax,  for  the  purpose 
of  raising  money  in  the  province  for  the  use  of  Great  Britain. 
So  far,  indeed,  as  the  former  act  was  not  a  mere  regulation  of 
trade,  but  intended  to  draw  a  revenue  from  the  province,  without 
the  consent  of  the  representatives,  it  was  opposed  and  reprobated. 
As  to  the  latter,  there  was  no  disguise  or  deception  in  the  case; 
the  professed  object  was  to  raise  money  for  the  public  treasury 


276  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

of  England,  except  it  should  be  all  spent  on  the  officers  of  the 
Crown  in  the  province.  "Writs  of  all  kinds,  probate  papers, 
deeds,  and  even  diplomas  for  college  degrees,  were  all  subject  to 
duty. 

Although  there  never  could  have  been  any  well-grounded  hopt> 
that  the  Stamp  Act  would  have  been  quietly  submitted  to  in  the 
colonies,  yet  the  notice  so  publicly  given  of  the  intention  to  carry 
it  through  Parliament,  and  the  delay  occasioned  thereby,  enabled 
the  demagogues,  the  clergy,  and  all  opposed  to  British  domi- 
nation, to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people  for  resistance.  Th» 
news  of  the  bill  having  received  the  royal  assent,  no  sooner  reach 
ed  Massachusetts,  than  the  people  were  infuriated  to  the  highest 
degree.  The  ships  in  the  harbor  hoisted  their  colors  half-mast 
high,  in  token  of  the  deepest  mourning  ;  the  bells  rang  muffled ; 
the  act  itself  was  printed  with  a  death's  head  inserted  in  the 
place  where  it  is  usual  to  fix  the  stamps,  and  cried  publicly  about 
the  streets  by  the  name  of  "  Folly  of  England,  and  Ruin  of 
America." 

Essays  soon  followed,  not  only  against  the  expediency,  but 
even  the  equity  of  it,  in  several  newspapers,  one  of  which  bore 
the  significant  title  of  "  The  Constitutional  Courant,  containing 
matters  interesting  to  liberty,  and  no  wise  repugnant  to  loyalty, 
printed  by  Andrew  Marvel,  at  the  sign  of  the  Bribe  Refused,  on 
Constitution  Hill,  North  America."  This  paper  had  a  still  more 
significant  vignette  of  a  snake  cut  in  pieces,  with  the  initial  let- 
ters of  the  names  of  the  several  colonies,  from  New  York  to 
South  Carolina  inclusively,  affixed  to  each  piece,  and  above 
them  the  words,  "  JOIN  OR  DIE."  To  these  were  added  carica- 
tures, pasquinades,  bon-mots,  and  such  vulgar  sayings  fitted  to 
the  occasion,  as  by  being  short  could  be  most  easily  circulated 
and  retained  ;  at  the  same  time,  by  being  extremely  expressive, 
they  carried  with  them  more  weight  than  arguments.  These 
proceedings  were  followed  by  such  others  as  might  naturally  be 
expected  from  them. 

*.By  the  time  the  act  itself  reached  the  colonies,  the  populace 
were  every  where  exasperated  against  it  to  such  a  degree,  that 
they  treated  it  with  the  utmost  contempt  and  indignation.  It 
was  publicly  burnt  by  them  in  several  places  ;  and  at  the  same 
time  it  was  voted  that  thanks  should  be  given  to  General  Con- 
and  Colonel  Barre,  two  gentlemen  whom  they  considered  as 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  277 

the  most  strenuous  opposers  of  it  in  the  British  House  of  Com- 
mons ;  that  their  speeches  against  it,  and  their  pictures,  should 
be  requested,  the  latter  to  be  hung  up  in  their  places  of  meeting, 
and  the  former  to  be  inserted  in  the  books  destined  to  record  their 
principal  transactions.  A  great  elm  in  Boston,  at  the  corner  of 
the  present  Washington  and  Essex  streets,  under  which  the  op- 
ponents of  the  Stamp  Act  were  accustomed  to  assemble,  soon  be- 
came famous  as  "  liberty  tree."  Those  persons,  supposed  to  fa- 
vor the  Ministry,  were  hung  in  effigy  on  the  branches  of  this  elm. 
A  mob  attacked  the  house  of  Oliver,  Secretary  of  the  Colony, 
who  had  been  appointed  stamp  distributor  for  Massachusetts, 
broke  his  windows,  destroyed  his  furniture,  pulled  down  a  small 
building,  supposed  to  be  intended  for  their  reception,  and  fright- 
ened him  into  a  resignation.  Jonathan  Mayhew,  the  minister 
of  the  West  Church  in  Boston  (distinguished  by  his  recent  attack 
on  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts), 
preached  a  seditious  sermon  against  the  Stamp  Act,  taking  the 
significant  text,  "  I  would  they  were  cut  off,  which  trouble  you." 
The  Monday  evening  after  this  sermon,  the  riots  were  renewed. 
The  mob  attacked  the  house  of  Story,  Registrar  of  the  Admiralty, 
and  destroyed  not  only  the  public  files  and  records,  but  his  private 
papers  also.  They  next  entered  and  plundered  the  house  of  the 
Comptroller  of  the  Customs  ;  and  maddened  with  liquor  and 
excitement,  proceeded  to  the  mansion  of  Hutchinson  in  the 
North-square.  The  lieutenant-governor  and  his  family  fled 
for  their  lives.  The  house  was  completely  gutted. 

The  inhabitants  of  Boston,  at  a  town  meeting,  unanimously 
expressed  their  "  abhorrence"  of  these  proceedings  ;  and  a  "civic 
guard"  was  organized  to  prevent  their  repetition.  "Yet  the 
rioters,  though  well  known,  went  unpunished,  a  sure  sign,"  says 
Hildreth,  decidedly  the  most  able  and  impartial  of  American  his- 
torians, "  of  the  secret  concurrence  and  good- will  of  the  mass  a 
the  community.  It  is  only  in  reliance  on  such  encouragements, 
that  mobs  ever  venture  to  commit  deeds  of  violence.  Those  now 
perpetrated  were  revolutionary  acts,  designed  to  intimidate — mel- 
ancholy forerunners  of  civil  war  !" 

Massachusetts  was  not  alone  in  these  demonstrations.  The 
unpalatable  law  received  similar,  though  less  flagrant  treatment 
in  the  other  colonies.  On  the  24th  of  August,  a  Gazette  extra- 
ordinary was  published  at  Providence,  with  Vox  populi,  vox 


278  T  HE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

Dei  for  a  motto  ;  effigies  were  exhibited,  and  in  the  evening  cut 
down  and  burnt.  Three  days  after,  the  people  of  Newport  con 
ducted  three  effigies  of  obnoxious  persons,  in  a  cart  with  halters 
about  their  necks,  to  a  gallows  near  the  Town  House,  where  they 
were  hung,  and  after  a  while  cut  down  and  burnt,  amidst  the 
acclamations  of  thousands. 

On  the  last  day  of  October  a  body  of  people  from  the  country 
approached  the  town  of  Portsmouth  (New  Hampshire),  in  the 
apprehension  that  the  stamps  would  be  distributed ;  but,  on 
being  assured  that  there  was  no  such  intention,  they  quietly  dis- 
persed. The  next  morning  all  the  bells  in  Portsmouth,  New- 
castle, and  Greenland,  were  tolled,  to  denote  the  decease  of 
liberty ;  and  in  the  course  of  the  day,  notice  was  given  to  her 
friends  to  attend  the  funeral.  A  coffin,  neatly  ornamented,  and 
inscribed  with  "Liberty,  aged  CXLV  years,"  was  prepared  for 
the  funeral  procession,  which  began  from  the  State  House,  at- 
tended with  two  unbraced  drums.*  Minute  guns  were  fired  until 
the  corpse  arrived  at  the  grave,  when  an  oration  was  pronounced 
in  honor  of  the  deceased.  The  sermon  was  scarcely  concluded, 
when  some  remains  of  life  having  been  discovered,  the  body  was 
taken  up.  The  insciption  on  the  lid  of  the  coffin  was  imme- 
diately altered  to  "  Liberty  Revived  ;"  the  bells  suddenly  struck 
up  a  cheerful  sound ;  and  joy  appeared  again  in  every  counte- 
nance. 

In  Connecticut,  Mr.  Ingersoll,  the  constituted  distributor  of 
stamps,  was  exhibited  and  burnt  in  effigy  in  the  month  of  August ; 
and  the  excitement  at  length  became  so  general  and  alarming, 
that  he  resigned  his  office.  In  the  same  month,  the  spirit  dis- 
covered by  the  citizens  of  New  York  produced  a  similar  resigna- 
tion. The  stamp  papers  arriving  toward  the  end  of  October 
Lieutenant-governor  Golden  took  them  into  Fort  George,  and 
extraordinary  preparations  were  made  to  secure  them.  On  the 
1st  of  November,  many  of  the  inhabitants,  offended  at  his  con 
duct,  and  disliking  his  political  sentiments,  having  assembled  in 
the  evening,  proceeded  to  the  walls  of  the  fort ;  broke  open  his 
stables,  and  took  out  his  carriage.  After  carrying  it  through  the 
principal  streets  of  the  city,  they  marched  to  the  common,  where 
a  gallows  was  erected,  on  which  they  suspended  his  effigy,  with 
a  stamped  bill  of  lading  in  one  hand,  and  a  figure  of  the  devil  in 
*  Holmes'  Annual  Register. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  279 

the  other.  When  it  had  been  hung  a  sufficient  time  to  gathur  a 
great  concourse  of  people,  they  carried  it  in  procession  with  the 
gallows  entire  to  the  gate  of  the  fort,  when  it  was  removed  to 
the  bowling-green,  under  the  muzzle  of  the  guns,  where  a  bonfire 
was  made,  and  the  whole  pageantry,  including  the  carriage,  was 
consumed,  amidst  the  acclamations  of  several  thousand  spectators. 
They  next  proceeded  to  the  house  of  Major  James,  a  friend  of 
the  Ministry,  and  after  plundering  it,  consumed  every  article  of 
furniture  in  a  bonfire. 

At  Philadelphia,  on  the  appearance  of  the  ships  having  on 
board  the  obnoxious  papers,  all  the  vessels  in  the  harbor  hoisted 
their  colors  half-mast  high  ;  the  bells  were  muffled,  and  contini^d 
to  toll  until  evening ;  and  Mr.  Hughes,  the  stamp-master,  found 
it  necessary  to  resign.  In  Maryland,  Mr.  Hood,  the  distributor 
for  that  colony,  to  avoid  resignation,  fled  to  New  York,  but  he 
was  constrained  by  a  number  of  Sons  of  Liberty  to  sign  a  paper 
declaring  his  absolute  and  final  resignation.  In  Virginia,  the 
officer  arriving  at  Williamsburg  in  the  evening,  was  immediately 
urged  to  relinquish  his  commission,  and  upon  complying,  received 
the  acclamations  of  the  people.  At  night  the  town  was  illu- 
minated, the  bells  were  ringing,  and  festivity  expressed  the  uni- 
versal joy. 

Although,  by  the  resignation  of  the  distributors,  the  colonists 
were  laid  under  a  legal  inability  for  doing  business  according  to 
parliamentary  laws,  yet  they  adventured  to  do  it,  and  risked  the 
consequences.  Vessels  sailed  from  ports,  as  before  ;  and  the 
courts  of  justice,  though  suspended  a  while  in  most  of  the  colonies, 
at  length  proceeded  to  business  without  stamps.  As  a  retaliatory 
measure,  a  general  combination  was  formed,  for  the  non-consump- 
tion or  importation  of  British  manufactures.  A  retrenchment 
in  the  use  of  foreign  articles,  especially  at  funerals,  the  encourage- 
ment of  their  own  manufactures,  and  the  consequent  reduction 
of  importations  from  England,  were  the  expedients  first  resorted 
to.  This  was  to  advance  their  own  country,  at  the  expense  of  a 
powerful  interest  in  the  parent  state,  which  might  influence  the 
Ministry  to  reconsider  and  repeal  their  acts.  Nor  was  the  state 
of  American  manufactures  unpropitious  to  such  measures.  The 
smelting  of  iron  ore  had  been  brought  to  such  perfection  as 
greatly  to  check  the  importation  of  it  from  foreign  countries. 
Potash  had  become  a  considerable  article  of  exportation ;  and  the 


280  THE   ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA. 

making  of  coarse  woolens  had  so  prevailed  as  to  afford  essentia. 
aid  in  clothing. 

As  soon  as  the  General  Court  met  at  Boston,  after  the  passage 
of  the  act,  it  proceeded  to  take  into  consideration  the  state  of 
public  affairs.  After  discussing  the  difficulties  of  the  colonies, 
and  what  dutiful  address  it  might  be  proper  to  make  to  his 
Majesty  and  the  Parliament,  respecting  the  late  laws,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  lay  the  foundation  of  the  American  Revolution.  They 
voted  that  it  was  highly  expedient  there  should  be  a  meeting,  as 
soon  as  might  be,  of  committees  from  the  House  of  Representatives 
or  Burgesses  in  the  several  colonies  on  this  continent,  to  consult 
together  on  their  present  circumstances,  and  the  difficulties  to 
which  they  were  reduced  by  the  operation  of  the  late  acts  of  Par- 
liament for  laying  duties  and  taxes  on  them,  and  to  consider  of  a 
general  and  humble  address  to  his  Majesty  and  the  Parliament, 
to  implore  relief.  They  then  agreed  that  the  meeting  should  be 
held  at  New  York,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  October  following,  and 
directed  letters  to  be  forthwith  prepared  and  transmitted  to  the  re- 
spective Speakers  of  the  several  Houses  of  Representatives  or  Bur- 
gesses, to  advise  them  of  this  resolution,  and  to  invite  them  to  join, 
by  their  committee,  in  the  meeting.  The  House  then  prepared 
the  form  of  a  circular  letter,  and  appointed  a  committee  in  behalf 
of  Massachusetts,  consisting  of  three  persons,  to  carry  out  these 
objects. 

With  reference  to  the  late  riots,  so  notoriously  instigated  by  the 
leading  men  of  the  colony,  their  answer  to  the  queries  was  dis- 
tinguished for  that  cautious  evasion  which  had  ever  characterized 
the  Puritans.  We  inherit,  they  said,  from  our  fathers,  the  high- 
est relish  for  civil  liberty ;  but  we  hope  never  to  see  the  time, 
when  it  shall  be  expedient  to  countenance  any  methods  for  its 
preservation,  but  such  as  are  legal  and  regular.  When  our  sacred 
rights  are  infringed,  we  feel  the  grievance ;  but  we  understand 
the  nature  of  our  happy  constitution  too  well,  and  entertain  too 
high  an  opinion  of  the  virtue  and  justice  of  Parliament,  to  en- 
courage any  means  of  redress,  but  what  are  justifiable  by  that 
constitution. 

They  then  passed,  by  a  unanimous  vote,  several  resolutions, 
which  have  since  acquired  great  celebrity,  as  forming  the  basis 
of  all  subsequent  declarations  of  American  rights.  They  asserted 
that  there  were  certain  essential  rights  common  to  mankind, 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERIfc     .  281 

founded  in  the  law  of  God  and  Nature,  and  that  they  were  rec- 
ognized by  the  British  Constitution  ;  that  the  inhabitants  of  the 
province  were  entitled  to  those  rights,  in  common  with  all  men, 
and  that  no  law  of  society  could  justly  deprive  them  of  the  enjoy- 
ment of  them — that  no  man  could  take  the  property  of  another 
without  his  consent,  and  that  on  this  principle  is  founded  the 
right  of  representation  in  the  same  body  which  made  laws  for 
raising  taxes  ;  that  by  the  royal  charter,  the  people  of  the  prov- 
ince were  entitled  to  all  the  liberties  and  immunities  of  free  and 
natural  subjects  of  Great  Britain ;  that  they  appertained  to  the 
people  of  the  province  in  common  justice,  as  they  settled  the 
country  at  their  own  expense,  and  had  defended  themselves  in 
time  of  danger,  and  having  large  taxes  to  pay  for  the  support  of 
government  in  the  colony,  it  would  be  unjust  to  require  them  to 
assist  in  the  support  of  that  of  England ;  that  a  representation 
of  the  people  in  Parliament  was  impracticable,  and  therefore  the 
powers  of  legislation  were  allowed  to  be  exercised  in  America ; 
that,  therefore,  all  laws  made  by  any  power  whatever,  other 
than  the  General  Assembly  of  the  province,  imposing  taxes  on  the 
inhabitants,  were  infringements  of  their  inherent  and  inalienable 
rights,  as  men  and  British  subjects,  and  rendered  void  the  most 
valuable  declaration  of  their  charter.  They  also  complained  of 
the  powers  exercised  by  the  Courts  of  Admiralty,  where  there 
were  no  juries,  and  cases  were  decided  in  a  capricious  and 
arbitrary  manner.  These  resolutions  the  House  ordered  to  be 
recorded,  "  that  a  just  sense  of  liberty,  and  their  firm  sentiments 
of  loyalty,  might  be  transmitted  to  posterity." 

While  the  General  Court  was  sitting,  a  vessel  arrived  from 
England  with  large  quantities  of  stamped  paper  for  Massachusetts, 
New  Hampshire,  and  Rhode  Island.  The  governor,  at  a  loss  how 
to  dispose  of  them,  and  probably  anxious  to  avoid  giving  offense, 
asked  the  advice  of  the  Council,  who  referred  him  to  the  House 
of  Representatives.  The  House  said,  in  reply  to  the  message  on 
the  subject,  "  that  as  the  stamps  were  brought  into  the  province 
without  their  directions,  it  might  prove  of  ill  consequence  to  them 
to  take  any  concern  in  the  matter."  He  then  again  asked  the 
opinion  of  the  Council,  as  to  the  proper  disposition  of  the  stamps, 
who  advised  that  they  be  deposited  at  the  Castle,  to  wait  the  or- 
ders of  the  British  Ministry.  By  the  1st  of  November,  the  time 
the  act  was  to  take  effect,  not  a  sheet  of  stamped  paper  was  to  be 


282  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA 

had  throughout  the  several  colonies  of  New  York,  New  England, 
New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Virginia,  Maryland,  and  the  two 
Carolinas,  except  a  small  parcel,  which  the  governor  of  New 
York,  terrified  by  the  threats  of  the  enraged  populace,  had  sur- 
rendered into  the  hands  of  the  corporation  of  that  place,  on  con- 
dition of  their  not  being  destroyed  like  the  rest ;  so  that  all 
business,  which  could  not  be  legally  carried  on  without  stamps, 
was  at  once  suspended,  except  that  of  publishing  newspapers, 
which  the  printers  still  continued ;  pleading,  in  excuse,  that  if 
they  did  not,  the  populace  would  serve  them  as  they  had  done 
the  stamp-masters  themselves. 

But  the  consequence  of  this  stagnation  was  soon  felt  so  severely, 
that  the  inhabitants  began  to  think  how  they  could  effectually 
elude  it.  To  this  end  some  wag,  fruitful  in  expedients,  sent  to 
the  printers  at  Boston  a  thin  piece  of  bark,  on  which  he  had 
written,  that  it  being  neither  paper,  parchment,  nor  vellum,  he 
would  be  glad  to  know  if  instruments,  written  on  such  stuff, 
might  not  be  valid,  though  not  stamped  ;  in  which  case,  he  was 
ready  to  supply  with  good  writing-bark  all  those  whose  consciences 
were  bound  by  the  late  act.  At  last,  the  governors  of  some  of 
the  provinces,  though  bound  by  the  laws  to  swear  to  see  it  ob- 
served, under  the  severest  penalties,  finding  the  total  stoppage  of 
all  public  business  so  injurious  to  the  community,  thought  proper 
to  dispense  with  the  the  use  of  stamps,  grounding  their  justifica- 
tion on  the  absolute  impossibility  of  procuring  any ;  and  accordingly 
granted  certificates  of  that  impossibility  to  all  outward  bound 
vessels  to  protect  them  from  the  penalties  of  the  act  in  other  parts 
of  his  Majesty's  dominions. 

To  testify  their  indignation  still  further,  combinations  against 
the  trade  of  England  became  every  where  general.  The  mer- 
chants entered  into  the  most  solemn  engagements  with  each  other, 
not  only  not  to  import  any  goods  from  Great  Britain,  let  the  con- 
sequences be  what  they  would,  and  to  recall  the  orders  they  had 
already  given,  if  not  obeyed  by  the  1st  January,  1766,  but  even 
.not  to  dispose  of  any  British  goods  sent  them  on  commission,  that 
were  shipped  before  that  day  :  or  if  they  consented  to  any  relaxa- 
tion from  these  engagements,  it  was  not  to  take  place  till  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  even  the  Sugar  and  Paper-money  Acts,  were  re- 
pealed. The  people  of  Philadelphia  likewise  resolved,  though 
not  unanimously,  that  till  such  repeal,  no  lawyer  should  put  in 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  283 

suit  a  demand  for  money  owing  to  a  resident  in  America  from 
one  in  England ;  nor  any  person  in  America,  however  indebted 
in  England,  to  make  any  remittances  there. 

These  resolutions  were  adopted  by  the  retailers,  who  unani- 
mously agreed  not  to  buy  or  sell  any  British  goods  shipped  to 
them.  At  the  same  time,  lest  their  own  new  woolen  manufac- 
tories should  fall  short  for  want  of  materials,  most  of  the  inhabit- 
ants came  to  the  resolution  not  to  eat  any  mutton  ;  and  to  extend 
the  influence  of  their  resolution  to  those  who  did  not  join  them  in 
it,  nor  to  deal  with  any  butcher  that  should  kill  or  expose  any 
sheep  for  sale.  The  most  substantial,  and  even  fashionable 
people,  were  foremost  in  setting  the  example  to  their  countrymen, 
by  contenting  themselves  with  home-spun  or  old  clothes,  rather 
than  make  use  of  any  thing  British,  of  which  they  were  formerly 
so  conspicuously  fond.  Such  were  the  efforts  of  all  ranks,  and  so 
prudent  their  measures,  that  many  now  began  to  be  convinced 
of  what  they  had  till  then  thought  impossible,  that  the  colonies 
would  soon  be  able  to  supply  themselves  with  every  necessary -of 
life.  When  the  value  of  imposts  from  Great  Britain,  nearly 
three  millions  annually  is  taken  into  consideration,  it  must  be 
admitted  that  the  mode  of  retaliation  was  one  likely  to  be  severe- 
ly felt,  and  deeply  lamented  by  a  trading  people,  like  the  English. 

In  the  midst  of  this  general  excitement,  at  the  day  appointed 
by  Massachusetts,  committees  from  nine  colonies  met  at  New 
York,  arid  the  Congress  was  organized  by  the  appointment  of  a 
President.  One  of  the  first  rules  adopted  was,  to  give  each  colo- 
ny represented  one  vote.  In  the  course  of  a  three  weeks'  session,  a 
"  Declaration  of  the  Rights  and  Grievances  of  the  Colonies"  was 
agreed  to.  All  the  privileges  of  Englishmen  were  claimed  by  it 
as  the  birth-right  of  the  colonists ;  among  the  rest,  the  right  of 
being  taxed  only  by  their  own  consent.  Since  distance  and  local 
circumstances  made  a  representation  in  the  British  Parliament 
impossible,  their  delegates,  it  was  maintained,  could  be  no  other^ 
than  the  several  colonial  legislatures.  A  petition  to  the  king,  and 
memorials  to  each  House  of  Parliament,  were  also  prepared,  in 
which  the  cause  of  the  Provincials  was  eloquently  pleaded.  To 
these  proceedings,  the  several  colonial  assemblies,  at  their  earliest 
session,  gave  their  cordial  approval. 

A  change  in  the  English  Ministry,  which  took  place  in  July, 
and  the  news  of  which  reached  America  in  September,  encour- 


284  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

aged  the  colonists  in  the  stand  they  had  taken.  This  change 
originated  in  domestic  reasons,  wholly  unconnected  with  the 
American  polity ;  it  was  regarded,  however,  as  favorable  to  the 
general  cause  of  freedom.  The  old  Whig  aristocracy  which  had 
governed  the  kingdom  since  the  accession  of  the  House  of  Han- 
over, had  split  up  of  late  into  several  bitter  and  hostile  factions, 
chiefly  founded  on  mere  personal  considerations.  Pitt's  repeated 
attacks  on  former  ministries,  and  at  last,  his  forcing  himself  into 
power,  had  contributed  not  a  little  to  this  result.  The  accession 
of  George  III.  had  given  rise  to  anew  party,  by  which  Pitt  him- 
self had  been  superseded.  In  the  address  from  the  throne,  at 
the  opening  of  the  session,  the  new  Ministers  brought  the  state 
of  colonial  affairs  before  Parliament.  They  produced  the  corre- 
spondence of  the  provincial  governors,  and  other  papers  relating 
to  the  late  disturbances.  Numerous  petitions  from  British  mer- 
chants for  the  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  were  also  presented  to  the 
two  Houses. 

Pitt  now  appeared  in  his  place  in  the  House  of  Commons,  and 
delivered  his  opinion,  "  that  the  kingdom  had  no  right  to  lay  a 
tax  on  the  colonies.  The  commons  in  America,  represented  in 
their  several  Assemblies,  have  invariably  exercised  the  constitu- 
tional right  of  giving  and  granting  their  own  money  ;  they  would 
have  been  enslaved  if  they  had  not ;  at  the  same  time  this  king- 
dom has  ever  possessed  the  power  of  legislative  and  commercial 
control.  The  colonies  acknowledge  your  authority  in  all  things, 
with  the  sole  exception  that  you  shall  not  take  their  money  out 
of  their  pockets  without  their  consent."  "  We  are  told  America 
is  obstinate,"  he  said,  "  and  is  almost  in  open  rebellion.  Sir,  I 
rejoice  that  America  has  resisted.  Three  millions  of  people  so 
dead  to  all  the  feelings  of  liberty,  as  voluntarily  to  submit  to  be 
slaves  would  have  been  fit  instruments  to  make  slaves  of  all  the 
rest."  "  The  Americans  have  been  wronged  !  They  have  been 
driven  to  madness  by  injustice  !  Will  you  punish  them  for  the 
madness  you  have  occasioned  ?  No  !  Let  this  country  be  the 
first  to  resume  its  prudence  and  temper ;  I  will  pledge  myself  for 
the  colonies,  that  on  their  part  animosity  and  resentment  will 
cease." 

The  new  Ministry  were  under  no  obligation  to  support  the 
policy  of  their  predecessors.  Anxious  to  escape  the  difficulty  by 
the  readiest  means,  they  brought  in  a  bill  for  repealing  the  Stamp 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  285 

Act,  which  in  spite  of  a  very  strenuous  opposition,  on  the  part  of 
the  supporters  of  the  late  Ministry,  was  carried  in  the  Commons 
by  a  vote  of  two  hundred  and  seventy-five,  to  one  hundred  and 
sixty-seven.  A  resolution  of  the  House  of  Commons  had  demand- 
ed indemnity  from  the  colonies  for  such  Crown  officers  as  had 
suffered  losses  in  the  late  Stamp  Act  riots  :  New  York  promptly 
complied.  After  much  urging  by  the  governor,  Massachusetts 
passed  a  similar  act ;  but  a  free  pardon  to  the  rioters,  inserted  in 
it,  betrayed  the  state  of  public  feeling  and  gave  great  offense  in 
England. 

The  preamble  to  this  bill  contains  the  following  extraordinary 
recital :  "  As  the  King's  Most  Excellent  Majesty,  from  a  desire 
that  the  sufferers  in  the  late  riots  should  be  compensated,  and  a 
vail  be  drawn  over  the  late  unhappy  excesses,  has  been  pleased 
to  signify  his  intention  to  forgive  and  forget  them,  at  the  same 
time  in  his  abundant  clemency  recommending  compensation  to 
the  sufferers;  from  a  grateful  sense  of  his  Majesty's  grace  and 
clemency,  in  order  to  promote  peace  and  safety,  to  make  compen- 
sation to  said  sufferers,  and  thus  to  demonstrate  to  the  world  the 
happiness  we  enjoy  in  being  a  part  of  the  British  Empire,  and 
being  entitled  to  the  rights,  liberties,  and  privileges  of  British 
subjects,  we,  His  Majesty's  most  dutiful  and  loyal  subjects,  the 
representatives  of  the  Commons  of  this  province,  in  General 
Court  assembled,  have  resolved  to  give  and  grant,  &c."  They 
resolved  that  their  reasons  for  making  the  compensation  were 
"  from  a  loyal  and  grateful  regard  to  the  king's  mild  and  gracious 
recommendation,  from  deference  to  the  opinions  of  the  illustrious 
friends  of  the  colonies  in  England,  and  for  the  sake  of  internal 
peace  and  order,  without  regard  to  any  interpretation  of  His 
Majesty's  recommendation,  into  a  requisition  precluding  all  de- 
bate and  controversy  ;  under  a  full  persuasion  that  the  sufferers 
had  no  just  claim  on  the  province ;  and  that  this  compliance 
ought  not,  hereafter,  to  be  drawn  into  a  precedent." 


CHAPTER  V. 

FROM  THE  REPEAL  OF  THE  STAMP  ACT  TO  THE  BATTLE  OF  BUNKER'S 
HILL,  AND  THE  COMMENCEMENT  OF  THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 

Joy  at  Repeal  of  Stamp  Act — Fresh  Discontent  as  to  Continuance  of  the 
Sugar  Act — Townshend's  Scheme  for  raising  a  Revenue,  maintain?  a  Standing 
Army,  and  giving  permanent  Salaries  to  Governors  and  Judges — Tax  on 
Paper,  Glass,  Lead,  and  Tea — New  York  refuses  to  provide  for  quartering 
the  Troops — Its  Assembly  restrained  from  Legislative  Functions — Board  of 
Revenue  established  in  America — Pensylvania  instructs  her  Agents  to  oppose 
the  Tea  Act — Massachusetts  addresses  a  Circular  Letter  to  the  other  Colonies 
on  the  Subject — Office  of  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies  created — Lord 
Hillsborough  calls  upon  the  General  Court  to  rescind  the  Proceedings  relative 
to  its  Circular  Letter,  but  it  refuses — Most  of  the  Colonies  approve  of  the 
Conduct  of  Massachusetts — Seizure  of  the  Sloop  "  Liberty" — The  Mob  assaults 
the  Commissioners,  and  attacks  their  House — They  take  refuge  on  board  of 
a  Man-of-war,  and  afterward  retire  to  Castle  William — Town  Meeting  called 
to  consider  the  Subject  of  Troops  being  allowed  in  Boston — People  advised 
to  arm  themselves — A  Convention  meets,  but  the  Governor  will  not  ac- 
knowledge it — Arrival  of  two  Regiments  from  Halifax — Proceedings  as  to 
quartering  them — One  Regiment  encamped  on  the  Common,  the  other 
lodged  in  the  Town  Hall — Proceedings  in  Parliament  relative  to  the  State 
of  the  Colonies — General  Court  adjourned  to  Cambridge — Refuses  to  provide 
for  the  Troops — Conduct  of  the  other  Colonies — Lord  Hillsborongh  informs  the 
Colonial  Assemblies  that  he  will  repeal  all  the  Duties  except  that  on  Tea — 
Mob  at  Boston  attacks  a  Picket  Guard  of  Soldiers,  who  fire  and  kill  three 
Persons — Trial  and  Acquittal — The  Governor  surrenders  Castle  Island  to  the 
Commander  of  the  Forces — People  refuse  to  observe  a  Day  of  Thanksgiving 
— Association  not  to  use  Tea — Proceedings  as  to  the  Governor  and  Judges 
receiving  their  Salaries  from  England — Destruction  of  the  armed  Schooner 
"  Gaspe" — People  refuse  to  allow  Tea  to  be  landed — A  Cargo  thrown  into 
the  Harbor — Proceedings  in  the  other  Colonies  relative  to  the  Tea  Ships — 
Act  of  Parliament  for  closing  the  Port  of  Boston — Another  for  amending  the 
Charter — Legislature  of  Massachusetts — Advise  a  Congress,  and  name  the  1st 
of  December  and  Philadelphia  as  the  Time  and  Place  of  Meeting — The  last 
General  Court — Meeting  of  Congress — Declaration  of  Rights  and  other  Pro- 
ceedings— Non-intercourse  agreed  upon — The  General  Court  resolve  them- 
selves into  a  Provincial  Congress,  and  vote  to  raise  twelve  thousand  Men, 
&c. — King's  Stores  seized  at  Rhode  Island  and  New  Hampshire — Proceed- 
ings in  Parliament — Skirmish  at  Lexington — Commencement  of  the  Revolu- 
tionary War. 

THE  repeal  of  the  Stamp  Act  called  forth  the  most  lively  de- 
monstrations of  joy  throughout  the  colonies;  but  this  exultation 
arose  as  much  from  triumph  as  from  relief  from  an  impost.  The 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  287 

contest  had  exhibited  the  utter  inability  of  English  officials  to 
execute  enactments  opposed  to  the  interests  and  inclinations  of 
the  inhabitants,  and  satisfied  the  most  timid  of  the  power  of  the 
Provincials,  if  united,  to  resist  either  the  laws  or  the  arms  of  the 
mother  country.  It  invited  opposition,  and  where  there  is  a  dis- 
position to  quarrel,  subjects  of  dispute  are  never  wanting. 

Although  the  Stamp  Act  was  repealed,  the  Sugar  Act,  slightly 
modified,  remained  on  the  statute  book,  and  was  rigidly  enforced. 
With  a  singular  misapprehension  of  the  character  of  the  people 
for  whom  they  were  legislating,  the  Ministry  accompanied  almost 
every  additional  restriction  with  a  corresponding  boon.  Thus,  by 
an  amendment  of  the  latter  law,  all  direct  trade  with  France 
was  prohibited ;  while,  to  soften  the  harshness  of  the  measure, 
iron  and  lumber  were  allowed  to  be  exported  to  European  ports, 
south  of  Cape  Finisterre.  The  one  was  regarded  as  an  invasion, 
and  the  other  as  no  more  than  an  admission  of  right.  The 
former,  therefore,  was  resented  as  an  injury,  and  the  latter  re- 
ceived with  indifference  or  silence. 

Townshend  had  now  become  Chancellor  of  the  Exchquer,  who 
whatever  his  abilities  might  have  been,  could  lay  no  claim  to 
consistency  of  conduct,  one  of  the  first  qualifications  of  a  states- 
man. He  had  voted  for  the  Stamp  Act,  and  strenuously  sup- 
ported its  repeal,  an  acknowledgment  of  error  that  induced  the 
Americans  to  think  his  political  advancement  to  the  important 
office  he  held  was  a  special  mark  of  Divine  favor.  What,  there- 
fore, was  their  astonishment,  when  they  heard  that  his  first  meas- 
ure was  to  introduce  a  bill  to  raise  a  transatlantic  revenue,  for 
maintaining  a  standing  army  in  the  colonies,  and  for  securing 
permanent  salaries  to  governors  and  judges,  and  thereby  render- 
ing them  independent  of  the  local  Assemblies.  While  he  affected 
to  base  this  law  on  the  distinction  taken  between  internal  and 
external  taxation,  he  violated  the  principle  by  imposing  duties  on 
certain  British  productions,  such  as  paints,  paper,  glass,  and  lead, 
to  which  was  added  another  article,  tea,  afterward  rendered  so 
notorious.  This  law  was  supposed  to  be  of  easier  execution  than 
the  Stamp  Act,  and  it  passed  with  little  or  no  opposition.  It 
received  the  royal  assent  on  the  29th  of  June. 

The  preamble  states  that  the  duties  were  laid  "  for  the  better 
support  of  government,  and  the  administration  of  the  colonies." 
One  clause  enabled  the  Crown,  by  sign  manual,  to  establish  a 


THE  ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

general  civil  list  throughout  every  province  of  North  America,  to 
an  indefinite  extent,  with  salaries,  pensions,  or  appointments.  It 
provides,  that  after  all  such  ministerial  warrants,  under  the  sign 
manual,  "  as  are  thought  proper  and  necessary,"  shall  be  satis- 
fied, the  residue  of  the  revenue  shall  be  at  the  disposal  of  Parlia- 
ment. Contemporaneously  with  the  Stamp  Act  a  law  had  been 
passed  by  Parliament,  that  obliged  the  several  Assemblies  to  pro- 
vide quarters  for  the  soldiers,  and  furnish  them  with  fire,  beds, 
candles,  and  other  articles,  at  the  expense  of  their  respective 
colonies. 

The  British  government  receiving  intelligence  that  New  York 
had  refused  to  provide  for  quartering  the  troops,  a  law  was  passed 
"  for  restraining  the  Assembly  of  that  province  from  all  legislative 
functions,  until  it  had  complied  with  the  Act  of  Parliament  for  the 
furnishing  his  Majesty's  troops  with  the  requisite  necessaries." 
The  suspension  of  the  House  of  Representatives  in  one  colony 
justly  excited  alarm  in  all  the  rest ;  for  it  was  perceived  that,  by 
a  parity  of  reason,  others  might  be  put  on  their  trial  for  good  be- 
havior, of  which  the  British  Ministry  would  be  the  sole  judges. 
Georgia  displayed  some  stubbornness  on  this  same  point ;  but  the 
withdrawal  of  the  troops,  leaving  the  colony  exposed  to  Indian 
invasion  from  without,  and  negro  insurrection  within,  soon  brought 
the  Assembly  to  terms. 

The  Parliament  also  passed  an  act  for  establishing  a  Custom 
House  and  a  Board  of  Commissioners  in  America.  The  act  was 
to  come  into  operation  after  the  20th  day  of  November  ;  and,  in 
the  beginning  of  that  month,  three  commissioners  arrived  at 
Boston.  The  colonists,  believing  that  this  board  was  designed 
to  enforce  the  new  duties,  were  inflamed  against  them  and  their 
employers  to  the  highest  degree;  and  pronounced  the  appointment 
unconstitutional  and  oppressive.  This  measure  called  forth  ad- 
ditional essays  on  colonial  rights,  and,  among  others,  the  cele- 
brated "  Letters  from  a  Farmer  in  Pennsylvania  to  the  Inhabit- 
ants of  the  British  Colonies,"  which  had  a  rapid  and  extensive 
circulation  throughout  North  America.  The  passage  of  these 
acts,  and  the  determination  they  evinced  to  raise  a  transatlantic 
revenue,  brought  the  Provincials  in  a  body  to  the  ground  origin- 
ally taken  by  Otis,  that  imposts  on  trade,  if  designed  for  fixed 
purposes,  were  just  as  much  a  violation  of  their  rights  as  any 
other  tax.  The  acts  accordingly  met  every  where  with  tho 


THE   ENGLISH    IN   AM  ERIC  A.  289 

w/most  opposition,  and  were  denounced  in  resolves,  petitions,  ad- 
dresses, and  remonstrances. 

Early  in  February  the  Pennsylvanian  Assembly  took  into  con- 
sideration the  act  imposing  duties  on  paper,  glass,  paints,  and 
teas,  and  gave  positive  instructions  to  its  agents  to  unite  with 
those  of  the  other  plantations,  in  applying  to  Parliament  for  re- 
lief. The  Assembly  of  Massachusetts  adopted  a  more  grave  and 
extensive  measure.  They  drew  up  a  circular  letter  to  the  sister 
colonies,  in  which  they  observed  that  "  they  had  taken  into  their 
serious  consideration  the  great  difficulties  that  must  accrue  to 
themselves  and  their  constituents,  by  the  operation  of  several 
acts  of  Parliament,  imposing  duties  on  the  American  provinces," 
related  the  steps  which  they  had  taken  in  petitioning  the  king, 
and  requested  their  co-operation  in  suitable  measures  to  obtain 
redress. 

In  their  instructions  to  their  agent,  which  is  a  very  ably  writ- 
ten paper,  they  furnished  him,  at  length,  with  the  arguments 
best  suited  to  serve  their  cause. 

"  It  is  the  glory  of  the  British  Constitution,"  they  said,  "  that 
it  has  its  foundation  in  the  laws  of  God  and  Nature.  It  is  a 
natural  and  essential  right,  that  a  man  shall  quietly  enjoy  and 
have  the  sole  disposal  of  his  own  property.  This  is  recognized 
in  the  constitution.  And  this  natural  and  constitutional  privi- 
lege is  so  familiar  to  the  people  in  America,  that  it  would  be 
difficult,  if  possible,  to  convince  them,  that  any  necessity  can  ren- 
der it  just  and  equitable  that  Parliament  should  impose  duties  or 
taxes  on  them,  internal  or  external,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  raising 
a  revenue.  The  reason  is  obvious,  that  they  are  not  represented, 
and  their  consent  can  not  constitutionally  be  had  in  Parliament." 
"  The  security  of  property  and  right  is  the  great  end  of  govern- 
ment ;  and  such  measures  as  render  right  and  property  precarious, 
tend  to  destroy  government  also.  But  what  property  can  the 
colonists  be  supposed  to  have,  if  their  money  can  be  granted 
away  by  others,  and  without  their  own  consent  ?  Yet  this  is  the 
case  at  present,  for  they  were  in  no  sense  represented  in  Parlia- 
ment, when  the  act  for  raising  a  revenue  in  America  was  passed.' 
The  Stamp  Act  was  complained  of  as  a  grievance,  and  is  there 
any  difference  between  the  late  act  and  that  1  They  were  both 
designed  to  raise  a  revenue." 

Amid  these  distractions,  a  new  establishment  was  created  in 

N 


290  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

England,  by  which  a  Secretary  of  State  was  appointed  to  the 
department  of  the  colonies,  superseding,  in  many  particulars,'  the 
power  and  authority  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  which  was  a  most 
unwise  measure.  The  letter  of  Massachusetts  to  the  Assemblies 
of  the  other  provinces,  occasioned  an  order  from  Lord  Hillsbor- 
ough,  who  first  filled  the  new  office,  to  the  king's  representative, 
to  call  on  the  General  Court  to  rescind  the  resolution  on  which 
it  was  founded,  on  pain  of  dissolution ;  while  he,  at  the  same 
time,  addressed  a  circular  dispatch  to  the  governors  of  the  several 
provinces  to  whom  the  seditious  letter  had  been  sent.  "  As  his 
Majesty,"  he  observed,  "considers  this  measure  to  be  of  the  most 
dangerous  and  factious  tendency,  calculated  to  inflame  the  minds 
of  his  good  subjects  in  the  colonies,  and  promote  an  unwarranta- 
ble combination,  and  to  exhibit  an  open  opposition  to,  and  denial 
of  the  authority  of  Parliament,  and  to  subvert  the  true  principles 
of  the  constitution,  it  is  his  Majesty's  pleasure,  that  you  should 
immediately,  upon  the  receipt  hereof,  exert  your  utmost  influence 
to  defeat  this  flagitious  attempt  to  disturb  the  public  peace, 
by  prevailing  upon  the  Assembly  of  your  province  to  take  no 
notice  of  it,  which  will  be  treating  it  with  the  contempt  it 
deserves." 

When  the  demand  was  made  on  the  General  Court  to  rescind 
the  obnoxious  proceedings,  they  replied  to  the  governor  that 
"  that  resolution  has  now  no  existence  but  as  a  mere  historical 
fact.  Your  Excellency  must  know  that  it  is,  to  speak  in  the 
language  of  the  common  law,  not  now  executory,  but  to  all  in- 
tents and  purposes  executed.  If,  as  is  most  probable,  by  the 
word  '  rescinding'  is  intended  the  passing  a  vote  in  direct  and  ex- 
press disapprobation  of  the  measure  taken  by  the  former  House  as 
illegal,  inflammatory,  and  tending  to  promote  unjustifiable  com- 
binations against  his  Majesty's  peace,  crown,  and  dignity,  we 
must  take  the  liberty  to  testify  and' publicly  to  declare  that  we 
take  it  to  be  the  native,  inherent,  and  indefeasible  right  of  the 
subject,  jointly  or  severally,  to  petition  the  king  for  the  redress 
of  grievances  ;  provided  always  that  the  same  be  done  in  a  decent, 
dutiful,  and  constitutional  way,  without  tumult,  disorder,  and 
confusion.  If  the  votes  of  the  House  are  to  be  controlled  by  the 
direction  of  a  Minister,  we  have  left  us  but  a  vain  semblance  of 
liberty.  We  have  now  only  to  inform  you,  that  this  House 
have  voted  not  to  rescind  ;  and  that,  on  a  division  on  the  question, 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  291 

there  were  ninety-two  nays,  and  seventeen  yeas."  The  next  day 
the  governor  dissolved  the  Assembly. 

Most  of  the  other  legislatures  approved  of  the  transactions  of 
Massachusetts,  and  harmonized  with  that  colony  in  resolves  and 
petitions.  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Virginia,  and  Georgia  had 
given  a  cordial  response  to  its  circular,  and  in  Maryland  and 
New  York,  Lord  Hillsborough's  interference  produced  an  effect 
the  opposite  of  what  he  desired.  The  Burgesses  of  Virginia  voted 
a  memorial  to  the  Lords,  and  a  remonstrance  to  the  Commons, 
against  the  late  acts  of  Parliament.  They  dwelt  with  particular 
force  upon  the  act  suspending  the  legislative  powers  of  the  New 
York  Assembly.  In  consequence  of  these  resolutions  Lord  Boute- 
tourt,  who  had  succeeded  Fouquier  as  governor,  dissolved  the 
local  Parliament.  The  Assemblies  of  Maryland  and  Georgia 
having  approved  the  proceedings  of  Massachusetts,  were  also  dis- 
solved. The  New  York  Assembly  still  obstinately  refusing  to 
make  the  required  provision  for  the  troops,  that  body  was  dissolved 
in  like  manner. 

But  this  appeal  to  the  people  made  no  change  in  the  character 
or  temper  of  the  Burgesses.  At  a  new  election,  the  popular  side 
was  even  strengthened.  Meanwhile  the  merchants  had  been 
greatly  irritated  by  increased  strictness  in  the  collection  of  duties, 
and  by  suits  even  for  past  breaches  of  the  revenue  laws.  Great 
offense  was  also  taken  on  another  subject :  on  the  arrival  of  the 
sloop  "  Liberty,"  laden  with  wine  from  Madeira,  it  appeared  that 
she  had  discharged  her  cargo,  and  in  part  reloaded  with  a  quan- 
tity of  oil,  which  was  done  under  pretense  of  converting  her  into 
a  store,  without  any  attention  having  been  paid  to  the  new  laws, 
or  to  the  Custom  House  regulations.  Upon  the  seizure,  the  offi- 
cers made  a  signal  to  the  "  Romney"  man-of-war,  and  her  boats 
were  sent  manned  and  armed,  who  cut  away  the  sloop's  fasts, 
and  conveyed  her  under  the  protection  of  that  ship.  The  popu- 
lace, having  assembled  in  great  crowds  upon  this  occasion,  pelted 
the  commissioners  of  the  customs  with  stones,  broke  one  of  their 
swords,  and  treated  them  in  every  respect  with  the  greatest  out- 
rage ;  after  which  they  attacked  their  houses,  demolished  the 
windows,  and  hauled  the  collector'^)oat  to  the  Common,  where 
they  burned  it,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  mob.  The  officers  of 
the  customs,  upon  these  extraordinary  acts  of  violence,  found  it 
necessary  for  the  security  of  their  lives  to  retire  on  board  the  man- 


292  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

of-war,  from  whence  they  removed  to  Castle  William,  a  fortifi- 
cation on  a  small  island  in  the  harbor,  where  they  resumed  the 
functions  of  their  office. 

In  the  mean  time,  town  meetings  were  held,  and  a  remon- 
strance presented  to  the  governor,  in  which  the  rights  they 
claimed  were  supported  in  direct  opposition  to  the  Imperial  Leg- 
islature, and  an  extraordinary  requisition  made  that  he  would 
issue  an  order  for  the  departure  of  his  Majesty's  ship  the  "  Rom- 
ney"  out  of  the  harbor.  While  things  were  in  this  unhappy  situ- 
ation, two  regiments  were  ordered  from  Ireland  to  support  the 
civil  government,  and  several  detachments  from  different  parts 
of  the  continent  rendezvoused  at  Halifax  for  the  same  purpose. 
No  menace  made  by  the  most  dangerous  and  cruel  enemy  could 
excite  a  greater  alarm  than  this  intelligence  did  at  Boston, 
where  it  was  regarded  as  an  act  of  invasion  or  conquest.  Upon 
the  first  rumor  of  it,  a  meeting  of  the  inhabitants  was  immediate- 
ly summoned  at  Faneuil  Hall,  where  they  chose  one  of  their  late 
popular  representatives  as  moderator.  A  committee  was  then 
appointed  to  wait  on  the  governor,  to  know  what  grounds  he  had 
for  intimations  he  had  lately  given  that  some  regiments  of  his 
Majesty's  forces  were  expected  in  that  town,  and  at  the  same 
time  to  petition  him  to  issue  precepts  to  convene  a  General  As- 
sembly. The  governor  answered  that  his  information  about  the 
arrival  of  the  troops  was  of  a  private  nature,  and  that  he  could 
not  call  another  Assembly  until  he  received  his  Majesty's  instruc- 
tions, under  whose  consideration  it  now  was. 

A  committee,  which  had  been  appointed  to  consider  of  the 
present  state  of  affairs,  gave  in  their  report  a  long  declaration 
and  recital  of  their  rights,  and  the  supposed  infractions  of  them, 
which  had  been  lately  made,  and  passed  several  hasty  resolutions, 
particularly  in  regard  to  the  legality  of  raising  or  keeping  a 
standing  army  among  them  without  their  own  consent.  Among 
other  things  they  recommended  a  convention  of  delegates  to  be 
chosen.  But  the  most  extraordinary  act  of  this  town-meeting 
was  a  requisition  to  the  inhabitants  that,  as  there  was  a  prevail- 
ing apprehension  in  the  minds  of  many  of  a  war  ^v^th  France, 
they  should  accordingly  be  ]M»vided  with  arms,  ammunition,  and 
the  necessary  accoutrements,  so  as  to  be  properly  prepared  in  case 
of  sudden  danger.  A  day  of  public  prayer  and  fasting  was  then 
appointed,  and  the  meeting  dissolved.  Ninety-six  towns  appoint- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  293 

ed  committees  to  attend  the  convention,  whose  first  act  on  assem- 
bling was  to  send  a  message  to  the  governor,  in  which  they  dis- 
claimed all  pretense  to  any  authoritative  acts,  stating  that  they 
were  chosen  by  the  several  towns,  and  came  freely  and  volunta- 
rily, at  the  earnest  desire  of  the  people,  to  consult  and  advise 
such  measures  as  might  promote  peace  and  good  order  in  their 
present  alarming  situation.  They  then  reiterated  their  griev- 
ances, complained  that  they  were  grossly  misrepresented  in  Great 
Britain,  and  pressed  the  governor  in  the  most  urgetit  terms  to 
convoke  a  General  Assembly.  In  reply,  he  admonished  them, 
as  a  friend  to  the  province,  and  a  well-wisher  to  themselves,  to 
separate  immediately.  This  answer  produced  a  message,  where- 
in they  justified  their  meeting  as  being  only  an  assemblage  of 
private  persons,  and  desired  explanations  as  to  the  criminality 
with  which  their  proceedings  were  charged.  The  governor  re- 
fused to  receive  that  or  any  other  communication  from  them,  as 
it  would  be  admitting  them  to  be  a  legal  assembly,  which  he 
would  not  by  any  means  allow.  The  convention  then  appoint- 
ed a  committee,  who  drew  up  a  report,  in  which  they  assigned 
the  causes  of  their  meeting,  disclaimed  all  pretense  to  any  author- 
ity whatsoever,  and  recommended  the  people  to  pay  the  greatest 
deference  to  Government,  and  to  wait  with  patience  for  the  result 
of  his  Majesty's  wisdom  and  clemency  for  a  redress  of  their 
grievances.  Having  then  prepared  a  representation  of  their  con- 
duct, and  a  detail  of  many  of  the  late  transactions,  to  be  trans- 
mitted to  their  agent  in  London,  they  returned  to  their  homes. 
The  day  after  they  adjourned,  the  fleet  from  Halifax,  consisting 
of  several  frigates  and  sloops  of  war  and  some  transports,  with 
two  regiments  and  a  detachment  of  artillery,  arrived  in  the  har- 
bor. When  the  Council  was  called  upon  to  find  accommodation 
for  them,  they  insisted  that  they  should  occupy  the  barracks  out 
of  the  town,  at  the  Castle  ;  for  if  the  act  for  quartering  soldiers 
was  at  all  applicable  to  them,  it  could  only  be  so  when  no  other 
provision  could  be  found.  When  peremptorily  ordered  to  do  so, 
they  said  that  it  was  the  duty  of  the  select-men,  who,  when  ap- 
plied to,  shifted  off  the  task  upon  the  justices,  who  in  their  turn 
replied  that  raising  or  expending  money  belonged  solely  to  the 
General  Court.  In  the  mean  time  two  regiments  were  landed ; 
one  was  encamped  on  the  Common,  and  the  other  lodged  in  the 
Town  Hall  and  other  places,  while  preparation  was  made  by  the 


294  THE   ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

governor  for  erecting  a  building  for  their  reception  ;  but  this 
was  soon  demolished  by  the  mob. 

When  Parliament  assembled,  all  the  papers  relating  to  the 
colonies,  and  particularly  to  the  recent  riots  in  Massachusetts, 
were  laid  before  the  two  Houses.  The  Lords  severely  censured 
those  proceedings,  particularly  the  convention  held  at  Boston. 
They  approved  of  the  conduct  of  the  Ministry,  and  recommended 
instructions  to  the  governor  of  Massachusetts,  to  obtain  full  in- 
formation of  all  treasons,  and  to  transmit  the  offenders  to  En- 
gland, to  be  tried  there  under  an  old  statute  of  Henry  VIII.  for 
the  punishment  of  treasons,  committed  out  of  the  kingdom.* 

In  the  spring  of  1769  writs  were  issued  for  the  choice  of  repre- 
sentatives, to  meet  at  Boston,  on  the  last  Wednesday  of  May. 
When  they  assembled,  before  attending  to  the  usual  business  of 
the  session,  or  choosing  Councilors,  the  House  adopted  resolutions 
and  a  protest,  in  which  they  declared  that  they  would,  to  the 
utmost  of  their  power,  support  and  maintain  a  constitutional 
freedom  in  their  elections,  debates,  and  deliberations,  that  having 
an  armed  force  by  sea  and  land,  in  and  near  the  metropolis,  while 
the  Legislature  was  in  session,  was  a  breach  of  privilege,  and 
inconsistent  with  that  dignity  and  freedom  with  which  they  had 
a  right  to  deliberate  and  determine  ;  and  they  proceeded  to  take 
part  in  the  elections  of  the  day,  from  necessity  only.  When  the 
governor  found  the  House  thus  firm,  he  adjourned  the  General 
Court  to  Cambridge  ;  and  there  again  reminded  them,  that  much 
time  had  been  spent,  and  the  public  business  still  remained  un- 
done. He  stated  what  he  thought  necessary  to  be  attended  to, 
and  requested  them  to  dispatch  it,  that  the  Legislature  might  be 
adjourned. 

"  We  have  already  declared,"  they  said,  "  our  sense  of  the 
injury  done  this  people,  by  the  exertions  of  a  few  selfish  men, 
who  have  caused  the  quartering  of  regular  troops  among  us  in  a 
time  of  peace  ;  even  in  time  of  war,  the  act  of  Parliament  only 
requires  provision  to  be  made  by  a  colony  for  a  short  period,  while 
they  are  on  their  way  to  their  final  destination.  The  whole 
continent  has  been  sometime  distressed  with  acts  of  Parliament, 
imposing  taxes,  for  the  purposes  of  raising  a  revenue  from  the 
people  without  their  consent,  or  those  of  their  representatives,  and 
we  take  leave  to  say  that  we  deem  all  such  acts  to  be  for  laying 
*  See  Bradford's  Hist.  Mass. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  293 

a  tribute  for  the  purpose  of  dissipation  among  pensioners  and 
placemen.  And  if  the  present  be  continued,  it  will  be  difficult 
to  distinguish  the  case  of  widows  and  orphans  in  America,  plun- 
dered by  infamous  informers,  from  those  who  suffered  under  the 
most  oppressiv^of  the  Roman  governors  of  provinces.  The  free 
representatives  of  the  yet  free  people^f  America  are  called  upon 
to  advance  such  sums  of  money,  as  those  may  demand  over  whom 
we  have  no  control.  As  the  agents  of  the  people,  we  ought  to 
grant  only  what  we  think  reasonable,  and  they  have  ability  to 
pay.  Your  Excellency  must  excuse  us,  therefore,  in  this  explicit 
declaration,  that  as  we  can  not  consistently  ivith  our  honor  or 
interest,  and  mucli  less  ivith  the  duty  we  oive  our  constituents,,  so 
we  sliall  never  make  provision  for  the  purposes  in  your  two  mes- 
sages mentioned." 

Finding  the  representatives  unmanageable,  Governor  Bernard 
prorogued  the  Legislature,  and  departed  for  England,  leaving  the 
administration  in  the  hands  of  the  lieutenant-governor,  Hutchin- 
son.  Not  long  after,  the  grand  jury  of  Suffolk  county  found 
indictments  against  him  for  libel,  in  writing  letters  to  the  king's 
Ministers,  in  which  he  slandered  the  inhabitants  of  the  province. 
The  spirit  evinced  in  Massachusetts  and  Virginia,  the  two  lead- 
ing colonies,  pervaded  almost  the  whole  continent.  The  Assembly 
of  South  Carolina  refused  to  find  quarters  for  the  troops  sent  to 
that  province,  and  they  adopted  the  resolutions  of  Virginia,  as  did 
also  the  delegates  of  Maryland  and  Delaware. 

The  Legislature  of  North  Carolina  did  the  same  thing,  and 
was  dissolved  in  consequence ;  but  the  members  immediately  re- 
assembled in  their  private  capacity,  as  had  been  done  in  Virginia, 
and  entered  into  a  non-importation  agreement,  which  now,  for 
the  first  time,  became  pretty  general.  It  had  been  adopted  even 
in  Georgia  and  Rhode  Island,  hitherto  very  backward.  New 
Hampshire,  also,  in  spite  of  Governor  Wentworth's  influence,  was 
forced  into  it  by  threats  of  non-intercourse. 

The  partisans  of  the  mother  country  were  stigmatized  as 
Tories,  while  the  opponents  of  Parliamentary  taxation  took  the 
name  of  Whigs,  terms  well  understood  in  England.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  session  of  Parliament,  Pownall  moved  the  repeal 
of  Townshend's  Act.  But  instead  of  meeting  the  measure  by  a 
direct  negative,  the  Ministers  proposed  a  reference  of  the  subject 
to  the  next  year.  Shortly  after  the  prorogation,  Lord  Hills- 


296  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

borough  addressed  a  circular  to  the  colonial  governors,  announcing 
the  intention  to  repeal  the  clauses  of  the  act  that  imposed  duties 
on  British  goods,  it  being  regarded  as  "  contrary  to  the  true 
principles  of  commerce."  But  the  duty  on  tea,  and  the  right  of 
parliamentary  taxation  being  still  adhered  to,  thm  concession  had 
little  effect.*  The  seventeen  months  during  which  the  British 
troops  had  been  stationed  in  Boston  (notwithstanding  the  agree- 
ment of  the  commanding  officer  to  use  only  a  single  drum  and 
fife  on  Sundays)  had  by  no  means  reconciled  the  townspeople  to 
their  presence.  The  soldiers  were  subject  to  every  species  of 
annoyance.  Wherever  they  went,  they  were  followed  by  rnobs, 
pelted,  hooted  at,  and  insulted.  If  found  alone,  they  were  hustled 
or  beaten ;  if  in  small  parties,  they  were  challenged  to  fight,  or 
provoked  to  commit  a  breach  of  the  peace.  At  last,  they  \vere 
compelled  either  to  remain  in  their  quarters,  or  to  go  in  suffi- 
cient numbers  to  defend  themselves.  So  systematic  and  open 
was  this  ill-usage,  that  the  people  did  not  even  abstain  from  it 
when  the  soldiers  were  on  duty ;  and  on  one  occasion  attacked 
a  picket-guard  of  eight  men  so  furiously,  that  they  fired  into 
the  crowd,  killing  three  persons,  and  dangerously  wounding  five 
others. 

This  was  the  result  aimed  at  throughout.  The  bells  were 
rung,  and  a  cry  spread  through  the  town,  "  The  soldiers  are 
rising."  It  was  late  at  night ;  but  the  population  poured  into 
the  streets ;  nor  was  it  without  difficulty  that  a  general  combat 
was  prevented.  The  next  morning,  at  an  early  hour,  Faneuil 
Hall  was  filled  with  an  excited  and  indignant  assembly.  At  a 
town  meeting,  legally  warned,  held  that  afternoon  in  the  Old 
South  Meeting  House,  the  largest  building  in  the  town,  it  was 
voted  "  that  nothing  could  be  expected  to  restore  peace,  and 
prevent  blood  and  carnage,  but  the  immediate  removal  of  the 
troops."t  The  funeral  of  the  slain,  attended  by  a  vast  concourse 
of  people,  was  celebrated  with  all  possible  pomp.  The  story  of 
the  "  Boston  Massacre,"  as  it  was  called,  exaggerated  into  a  fe- 
rocious and  unprovoked  assault  by  brutal  soldiers  on  a  defenseless 
people,  produced  every  where  intense  excitement.  The  officer 
and  picket-guard  were  indicted,  and  tried  for  murder.  They 
were  defended,  however,  by  John  Adams  and  Josiah  Quiney,  two 
young  lawyers  among  the  most  zealous  in  the  popular  cause ; 
*  See  Hildreth's  Hist.  United  States.  t  Ibid. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  237 

and  so  clear  a  case  was  made  out  in  their  behalf,  that  they  were 
all  acquitted,  e'xcept  two,  who  were  found  guilty  of  manslaughter, 
and  slightly  punished. 

By  a  singular  coincidence,  on  the  very  day  that  this  happened 
in  Boston,  Lord  North  brought  forward  the  promised  motion  to 
repeal  the  whole  of  Townshend's  Act,  except  the  duty  on  tea. 
"  That,"  he  observed,  "  had  been  the  occasion  of  most  dangerous, 
violent,  and  illegal  combinations  in  America  against  the  import- 
ation and  use  of  British  manufactures.  The  English  merchants 
had  petitioned  against  it.  As  to  articles  of  British  produce,  ever 
to  have  taxed  them  was  indeed  an  absurd  violation  of  established 
policy.  The  tax  on  tea  stood  on  a  different  ground.  When 
that  was  imposed,  a  drawback  had  been  allowed  on  the  exporta- 
tion of  tea  to  America ;  and  as  the  colonists  were  thus  relieved 
of  a  duty  amounting  on  an  average  to  a  shilling  a  pound,  they 
had  no  right  to  complain  of  a  tax  of  three-pence,  since  they  gain- 
ed, in  fact,  nine-pence  in  the  pound  by  the  change.  He  could  have 
wished  to  repeal  the  whole  act,  could  that  have  been  done  without 
giving  up  the  right  of  taxing  the  colonies — a  right  he  would  con- 
tend for  to  the  last  hour  of  his  life.  The  proposed  repeal,  with- 
out any  relaxation  of  authority,  was  intended  as  a  persuasive  to 
bring  the  colonists  back  to  their  duty.  The  existing  combinations 
in  the  colonies  against  the  use  of  British  manufactures,  he  thought 
would  soon  come  to  an  end.  The  obnoxious  Quartering  Act, 
limited  by  its  terms  to  three  years,  was  suffered  silently  to  expire. 
But  the  Sugar  Act,  and  especially  the  tax  on  tea,  as  they  involved 
the  whole  principle  of  parliamentary  taxation,  were  quite  suffi- 
cient to  keep  up  the  discontent  of  the  colonies."* 

In  the  summer  of  1770,  the  lieutenant-governor  surrendered 
the  fortress  of  Castle  Island  into  the  hands  of  the  commanding 
officer  of  the  British  troops.  The  House  of  Representatives  re- 
monstrated against  it,-  as  a  gross  breach  of  trust,  and  a  most  rep- 
rehensible disregard  of  the  rights  and  safety  of  the  people.  But 
he  pleaded  ministerial  instructions,  and  orders  from  General 
Gage  at  New  York.  To  their  agents  in  London,  Franklin  and 
Lee,  the  Assembly  wrote,  in  most  pressing  terms,  to  procure  them 
redress.  The  former,  with  his  usual  sagacity,  foresaw  the  result 
of  these  continual  struggles  between  the  imperial  and  local  legis- 
latures. In  one  of  his  letters,  dated  in  May,  1771,  he  said  "  he 
*  See  Bradford. 


298  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

saw,  in  the  policy  of  administration,  that  the  seeds  were  sowing 
for  a  total  disunion  of  the  two  countries.  Men  are  appointed  to 
office  and  power  by  the  Ministry,  who  will  be  insolent  and  rapa- 
cious, and  who  will  become  odious  to  the  people,  and  will  mis- 
represent and  calumniate  them.  They  will  complain,  and  apply 
to  the  parent  government  for  more  power,  and  for  aid  from  the 
military.  The  oppressions  on  the  people  will  lead  to  riots  and 
violences.  Greater  force  and  rigor  will  be  necessary  to  keep  the 
people  in  subjection.  Force  will  beget  force  in  opposition.  Wai- 
will  ensue,  and  the  alternative  will  be  absolute  slavery  or  inde- 
pendence. I  am  no  prophet ;  but  history  shows  that  by  such 
steps  great  empires  have  been  divided." 

When  the  usual  proclamation  for  a  public  thanksgiving  was 
issued,  in  the  fall  of  1771,  the  people  of  Boston  prevailed  on  the 
clergy  of  the  town,  and  of  some  places  in  the  country,  to  omit 
reading  it.  Their  objection  to  it  was  "  that  it  called  on  the  peo- 
ple to  give  thanks  for  their  civil  and  religious  liberties."  They 
said  "  it  was  not  true,  and  that  it  would  be  acknowledging  their 
political  rights  remained  unimpaired,  which  all  knew  not  to  be 
the  case.  Their  rights  were  denied  and  violated,  and  it  would 
be  mockery  to  thank  Heaven  for  the  continuance  of  such  a  state 
of  things.  The  partial  repeal  of  the  taxes  under  the  new  act 
was  considered  so  unsatisfactory,  that  some  of  the  principal  towns 
agreed  that  no  tea  should  be  imported,  and  that  if  any  should  be 
brought  into  their  parts  it  should  be  smuggled,  to  avoid  the  pay- 
ment of  duty.  An  association  was  formed  at  the  same  time,  not 
to  use  it  until  the  obnoxious  act  should  be  repealed.  The  gover- 
nor having  announced  to  the  Legislature  that  he  had  received 
instructions  that  his  salary  and  those  of  the  judges,  would  be  paid 
by  the  Crown,  instead  of  the  province,  in  which  the  amount  had 
hitherto  been  a  subject  of  continual  agitation,  they  were  unwilling 
to  be  deprived  of  this  source  of  annoyance.  Far  from  regarding 
this  payment  as  a  favor,  the  House  denounced  it  as  a  violation 
of  the  charter — no  better  in  fact  than  a  standing  bribe.  After 
the  Court  had  adjourned,  the  people  of  Boston  took  up  the  mat- 
ter. A  town  meeting  was  held,  at  which  a  large  committee  of 
the  most  active  popular  leaders  was  appointed  to  state  the  rights 
of  the  colonists,  especially  those  of  Massachusetts,  "  as  men,  as 
Christians,  and  as  British  subjects  ;"  to  communicate  and  publish 
the  same  to  the  several  towns  of  the  province  and  to  the  world, 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  299 

with  the  infringements  and  violations  from  time  to  time  made, 
and  to  request  their  sentiments  on  the  subject.* 

Adams  rendered  himself  prominent  by  his  publications  on  this 
topic.  He  argued  that  the  judges  did  not,  in  fact,  hold  their 
offices  during  good  behavior,  though  such  ought  to  be  the  tenure, 
for  there  was  great  danger  of  their  becoming  the  mere  tools  of 
the  British  Government.  Such  was  the  temper  of  the  times, 
that  when  the  governor  requested  that  the  Province  House,  so 
calied,  in  Boston,  which  had  often  been  the  residence  of  the  chief 
magistrate,  might  be  repaired  and  made  fit  for  the  reception  of 
his  family,  the  Court  replied,  that  the  building  was  intended  for 
a  governor  who  received  his  support  from  them  ;  but  as  he  chose 
to  be  maintained  by  the  British  Government,  and  declined  a 
salary  offered  by  the  province,  they  did  not  feel  obliged  to  be  at 
any  expense  for  his  accommodation.  So  much  was  the  import- 
ance of  this  matter  exaggerated,  that  the  committee  to  whom  it 
was  referred  made  a  long  report,  in  which  they  thought  it  neces- 
sary to  preface  this  dreadful  grievance,  by  asserting  their  inalien- 
able and  natural  rights  as  men,  for  which  they  were  indebted  to 
none  but  their  Creator,  and  with  which  no  government  or  prince 
might  interfere  except  by  consent  or  contract.  They  then  went 
on  to  claim  equal  privileges  with  their  brethren  in  England,  who 
were  represented  in  Parliament.  They  added  that  the  Christian 
religion  gave  its  sanction  to  their  views  of  civil  liberty,  and  justi- 
fied the  authority  which  their  fathers  had  always  exercised. 
They  then  referred  to  their  grievances,  and  to  the  various  in- 
stances in  which  their  rights  had  been  infringed,  and  especially 
to  the  flagrant  attempt  of  the  Crown  to  bribe  the  governor  and 
judges  by  paying  their  salaries.  In  their  circular  letter  to  the 
other  towns  in  the  province,  they  expressed  their  fears  "  that  a 
system  of  despotism  and  oppression  was  preparing,  which,  unless 
soon  and  vigorously  opposed,  would  seal  th<^r  political  degrada- 
tion." "They  should  deeply  regret/'  they  said,  "  if  there  were 
not  a  spirit  still  existing  such  as  animated  their  ancestors,  which 
induced  them,  in  the  face  of  every  difficulty  and  danger,  to  forsake 
their  native  country,  and  make  a  settlement  on  bare  creation. 
They  were  not  afraid  of  poverty,  but  they  disdained  slavery." 

Most  of  the  towns  in  the  province  replied  to  this  address,  and 
manifested  the  same  uncompromising  temper.  Nearly  a  whole 
*  See  HiWreth  and  Bradford. 


^00  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

session  of  their  legislature  was  occupied  with  this  subject.  The 
House  requested  the  judges  to  decline  receiving  their  salaries 
from  England.  Three  of  them  declared  their  readiness  to  accept 
them  from  the  province,  as  they  had  done.  But  Mr.  Oliver,  the 
Chief  Justice,  said,  "  he  dare  not  decline  drawing  it  from  England 
without  leave  first  obtained  from  the  king."  It  was  then  voted 
that,  by  this  conduct  he  had  become  obnoxious  to  the  good  people 
of  the  province,  and  had  rendered  himself  unfit  to  hold  the  office 
of  a  justice  of  the  Court.  The  House  then  remonstrated  to  the 
governor  and  Council  against  the  conduct  of  the  Chief  Justice, 
and  prayed  for  his  removal  from  office.  The  former  refused  to 
consult  with  them  on  the  subject,  on  the  ground  that  it  belonged 
to  the  king  alone  to  suspend  or  recall  him.  The  Assembly  then 
addressed  themselves  to  the  Council,  and  requested  the  governor 
to  have  the  matter  submitted  to  the  board,  but  he  took  no  notice, 
of  the  application.*  The  delegates  thereupon  resolved  by  a  vote 
of  ninety-six  to  nine,  to  impeach  the  Chief  Justice  of  high  crimes 
and  misdemeanors,  and  both  the  branches  passed  a  resolution  for 
the  adjournment  of  the  Court  to  a  distant  day.  It  was  proposed 
in  the  Assembly  to  memorialize  the  king  to  recall  the  governor, 
who  had  thus  interposed  his  shield  to  protect  the  judges  ;  but  it 
was  opposed  by  one  of  the  members  (Hawley)  on  this  remark- 
able ground,  "  as  his  remove  would  deprive  them  of  a  cause  of 
clamor."t  A  better  key  to  their  conduct  is  not  to  be  found  in 
the  whole  of  their  history. 

The  people  were  so  far  wrought  upon  by  these  measures,  that 
the  grand  juries  in  Middlesex  and  Worcester,  where  the  superior 
Courts  were  held  in  April,  refused  to  take  the  usual  oaths,  or  to 
proceed  to  business,  until  they  were  assured  that  Chief  Justice 
Oliver  would  not  attend.  When  a  population  had  been  so  long 
trained  to  disregard  authority,  it  was  natural  that  they  should 
soon  break  out  into  open  acts  of  violence. $  The  "Gaspe,"  an 
armed  schooner,  winch  had  been  stationed  at  Providence,  and 
had  been  very  assiduous  in  supporting  the  laws  of  trade,  excited 
much  resentment  by  firing  at  the  Providence  packets,  to  oblige 
the  masters  to  take  down  their  colors,  and  by  chasing  them,  in 
case  of  refusal,  even  into  the  docks.  A  packet  coming  up  to 
Providence  with  passengers,  and  refusing  to  pay  that  tribute  of 

*  See  Bradford.  t  Chalmers's  Hist.  Am.  Col. 

tSee  Holmes's  Annals.    Hildreth. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  301 

respect,  was  fired  at  by  the  lieutenant,  and  chased.  It  being 
about  high  water,  the  packet  stood  in  as  closely  as  possible  with 
the  land,  designing  that  the  schooner  should  be  run  aground  in  the 
pursuit.  The  artifice  succeeded.  The  "  Gaspe"  was  soon  fast, 
and  the  other  proceeded  to  Providence,  where  a  plan  was  laid  to 
destroy  the  obnoxious  vessel.  Captain  Whimple  was  immedi- 
ately employed  to  beat  up  for  volunteers ;  several  whaleboats 
were  procured,  and  filled  with  armed  men;  and  about  two 
o'clock  the  next  morning,  they  boarded  her  as  she  lay  aground. 
The  lieutenant,  with  whatever  was  most  valuable  to  him,  was 
sent  ashore,  with  the  crew ;  and  the  cutter,  with  all  her  stores, 
was  burned.  A  reward  of  five  hundred  pounds,  together  with  a 
pardon,  if  claimed  by  an  accomplice,  was  offered  by  proclama- 
tion, for  discovering  and  apprehending  any  person  concerned  in 
this  action. 

In  consequence  of  this  daring  outrage,  an  act  of  Parliament 
was  passed,  for  sending  to  England  for  trial,  all  persons  concerned, 
in  the  colonies,  in  burning  or  destroying  his  Majesty's  ships,  dock- 
yards, or  military  stores.  But  though  the  perpetrators  were  well 
known,  no  legal  evidence  could  be  obtained  against  them.  The 
British  Government,  though  determined  to  carry  into  execution 
the  duty  on  tea,  attempted  to  effect  by  policy,  what  was  found  to 
be  impracticable  by  constraint.  The  measures  of  the  colonists 
had  already  produced  such  a  diminution  of  exports  from  Great 
Britain,  that  the  warehouses  of  the  East  India  Company  con- 
tained about  seventeen  millions  of  pounds  of  tea,  for  which  a 
market  could  not  readily  be  procured.  The  unwillingness  of  the 
directors  to  lose  their  commercial  profits,  and  of  the  Ministry  to 
forego  the  expected  revenue  from  the  sale  of  it  in  America,  led 
to  a  compromise  for  the  security  of  both.  The  former  were 
authorized  by  law  to  export  their  tea  free  of  duties  to  all  places 
whatever ;  by  which  regulation,  though  loaded  with  an  excep- 
tionable tax,  it  would  come  cheaper  to  America,  than  before  it 
had  been  made  a  source  of  revenue. 

The  crisis  now  approached,  when  the  colonies  were  to  decide, 
whether  they  would  submit  to  be  taxed  by  the  British  Parlia- 
ment, or  practically  support  their  own  principles,  and  meet  the 
consequences.  One  sentiment  appears  to  have  pervaded  the  en- 
tire continent.  The  new  Ministerial  plan  was  considered  as  a 
direct  attack  on  the  liberties  of  the  colonists,  which  it  was  the 


302  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

duty  of  all  to  oppose  ;  and  a  meeting  was  held,  when  the  agree- 
ment not  to  purchase  or  use  tea  was  revived,  and  it  was  further 
determined  that  the  article  should  not  be  landed  at  all.  The 
consignees  were  desired  not  to  receive  it,  or  allow  it  to  he  taken 
from  the  vessels.  They  declined  giving  any  such  promise.  A 
second  meeting  was  called,  when  it  was  voted,  "that  the  duty 
on  tea  was  a  tax  on  the  people,  imposed  without  their  consent ; 
and  that  sending  the  article  into  the  province  in  this  manner 
was  an  attempt  to  enforce  the  plan  of  the  Ministry  to  Braise  a 
revenue,  and  was  therefore  a  direct  attack  on  the  liberties  of  the 
people ;  and  that  whoever  should  receive  or  vend  the  tea  would 
prove  himself  an  enemy  to  the  country."*  A  committee  of  the 
town  was  again  directed  to  wait  on  the  consignees  with  a  re- 
quest that  they  would  have  no  concern  with  the  cargoes  :  but 
they  returned  an  evasive  answer,  which  was  declared  to  be  un- 
satisfactory. 

When  the  tea  arrived,  another  meeting  was  held  in  Boston, 
attended  also  by  the  inhabitants  of  other  towns,  some  of  them  at 
the  distance  of  twenty  miles.  There  was  an  unusual  excitement. 
It  was  said  "  that  the  hour  of  ruin  or  of  manly  opposition  had 
come."  The  word  went  forth  "  for  all  who  were  friends  of  the 
country  to  make  a  united  resistance  to  this  last  and  worst  mea- 
sure of  the  English  administration,  to  use  all  lawful  efforts  to 
prevent  the  landing  of  the  tea,  and  to  have  it  returned  to  En- 
gland." The  consignees  became  alarmed,  and  promised  to  ad- 
vise that  it  should  be  sent  back;  but  this  was  not  sufficiently 
decisive  to  satisfy  the  people. 

In  the  mean  time,  application  was  made  to  the  governor  to 
order  clearances  for  the  vessels,  that  they  might  return  ;  but  he 
declined,  saying  that  it  belonged  to  the  officers  of  the  customs  to 
decide  in  such  cases.  He  had  already  called  upon  the  Council 
for  advice  as  to  a  guard  to  prevent  riots,  and  to  protect  the  mer- 
chants in  landing  the  teas ;  but  they  refused  to  interfere  in  the 
affairs,  as  the  civil  magistrate  was  competent  to  order  it.  On  the 
following  day,  the  citizens  again  assembled,  to  learn  the  decision 
of  the  factors  of  the  vessels  and  cargoes,  when  the  sheriff  appear- 
ed with  a  proclamation  from  the  governor,  which  declared  the 
meeting  unlawful,  and  ordered  the  people  to  disperse.  But  a  vote 
passed  unanimously  that  they  would  not  separate,  as  the  meeting 

*  See  Bradford. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  303 

was  regular,  and  their  object  important.  They  again  resolved 
that  they  would  prevent  the  landing  of  the  tea,  at  every  hazard, 
and  requested  the  assistance  of  their  fellow-citizens  from  the 
country  towns,  on  due  notice  to  be  given,  if  the  exigency  should 
require  it.  Accordingly  a  number  of  men  in  disguise,  as  the 
meeting  broke  up,  at  the  approach  of  night,  proceeded  to  the 
vessels,  and  soon  threw  all  the  tea  into  the  dock. 

The  people  throughout  the  province  approved  of  the  resistance 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Boston,  and  declared  their  readiness  to  sup- 
port thete.  in  opposition  to  all  unjust  and  oppressive  measures  of 
the  British  Ministry.  The  opinion  was  increasing  "  that  if  they 
would  maintain  their  rights  and  liberties,  they  must  fight  for 
them."  The  vessel  bound  for  Pennsylvania  was  stopped  four 
miles  below  the  city,  and  information  having  just  arrived  of  the 
destruction  of  the  tea  at  Boston,  the  captain  was  persuaded  to 
return  to  England  without  attempting  to  land  his  cargo.  An- 
other, similarly  laden,  destined  for  Boston,  was  wrecked  on  Cape 
Cod.  The  few  chests  of  tea,  saved  from  her  cargo,  were  placed 
by  the  governor's  order  in  the  Castle  ;  but  some  twenty  more, 
brought  by  another  conveyance  on  the  private  account  of  some 
Boston  merchants,  were  thrown  into  the  water.  After  great 
delays,  the  New  York  tea-ship  arrived  at  Sandy  Hook.  The 
pilots  refused  to  bring  her  up,  and  a  Committee  of  Vigilance  soon 
took  possession  of  her.  The  captain  was  informed  by  a  deputa- 
tion that  he  must  take  back  the  ship  and  cargo;  but  the  con- 
signee refused  to  give  any  orders  for  that  purpose.  Meanwhile 
another  vessel  arrived,  and  on  the  assurance  that  she  had  no  tea 
on  board,  was  allowed  to  come  up  to  the  town.  But  a  report  to 
the  contrary  soon  spread ;  and  the  captain  was  obliged  to  ac- 
knowledge that  he  had  eighteen  packages,  not  belonging  to  the 
East  India  Company,  but  a  private  adventure.  The  populace 
immediately  seized  them  and  threw  them  into  the  river. 

A  day  or  two  after,  with  great  parade,  headed  by  a  band 
playing  "  God  Save  the  King,"  the  bells  ringing,  and  colors  fly- 
ing from  the  liberty  pole  and  the  shipping,  the  captain  of  the 
East  India  tea-ship  was  escorted  from  the  Custom  House  to  a 
pilot  boat,  which  took  him  to  the  Hook,  where,  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  "  Committee  of  Vigilance,^  the  anchors  were  weigh- 
ed, and  the  vessel  started  on  her  homeward  voyage.  The 
Charleston  tea-ship  reached  that  city  without  obstruction,  and 


504  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

landed  her  cargo  ;  but  it  was  stored  in  damp  cellars,  where  it 
soon  became  utterly  worthless. 

Intelligence  of  the  destruction  of  the  tea  at  Boston*<was  com- 
municated on  the  7th  of  March,  in  a  message  from  the  throne, 
to  both  Houses  of  Parliament,  and  the  conduct  of  the  colonists 
represented,  as  not  merely  obstructing  the  commerce  of  the  king- 
dom, but  as  subversive  of  the  British  Constitution. j  Although 
it  was  evident  that  the  opposition  to  the  sale  of  tea  was  common 
to  all  the  colonies,  yet  the  Parliament,  enraged  at  the  violence 
of  Boston,  selected  that  town  as  the  object  of  legislative  ven- 
geance. A  bill  was  accordingly  passed  by  which  that  port  was 
legally  precluded  from  the  privilege  of  landing  and  discharging, 
or  of  lading  and  shipping  goods,  wares,  and  merchandise.  This 
act,  which  shut  up  the  harbor  of  Boston,  was  speedily  follow- 
ed by  another,  entitled  an  act  "  for  the  better  regulating  the 
Government  of  Massachusetts."  The  object  of  this  law  was  to 
abridge  the  charter  of  the  province  in  several  important  particu- 
lars. The  Council  heretofore  elected  by  the  General  Court,  was 
to  be  nominated  by  the  Crown  ;  the  Royal  Governor  was  invest- 
ed with  the  power  of  appointing  and  removing  all  judges  of  the 
inferior  Courts  of  Common  Pleas,  Commissioners  of  Oyer  and 
Terminer,  the  Attorney-general,  Provost-marshal,  Justices, 
Sheriffs,  Sec.  ;  town  meetings,  which  were  sanctioned  by  the 
charter,  were,  with  few  exceptions,  forbidden,  without  leave 
previously  obtained  of  the  governor  in  writing,  expressing  the 
special  business  for  which  it  was  called,  and  with  a  further  re- 
striction, that  no  other  matter  should  be  treated  of,  except  the 
election  of  public  officers  ;  jurymen,  who  had  been  elected  before, 
by  the  freeholders  and  inhabitants,  of  the  several  towns,  were  to 
be  summoned  and  returned  by  the  sheriffs  of  the  respective  coun- 
ties. The  whole  executive  government  was  taken  out  of  the 
hands  of  the  people,  and  the  nomination  of  all  important  officers 
vested  in  the  king  or  his  representative.!  In  the  apprehension 
that,  in  the  execution  of  these  acts,  riots  would  take  place,  and 
that  trials  for  murders,  committed  in  suppressing  them,  would 
be  partially  decided  by  the  colonists,  it  was  provided  by  law,  that 
if  any  persons  were  indicted  for  any  capital  offense,  committed  in 
aiding  magistracy,  the  governor  might  send  him  to  another 
colony,  or  to  Great  Britain,  to  be  tried. 
*  See  HUdreth,  vol.  u.  t  Holmes,  vol.  n  J  Ibid. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  305 

These  three  acts  were  passed  in  such  quick  succession  as  to  pro- 
duce the  most  inflammatory  effects  in  America,  where  they  were 
considered  as  forming  a  complete  system  of  tyranny.  "  By  the 
first,"  said  the  colonists,  "  the  property  of  unoffending  thousands 
is  arbitrarily  taken  away ;  by  the  second,  our  chartered  liberties 
are  annihilated ;  and  by  the  third,  our  lives  may  be  destroyed 
with  impunity." 

Shortly  after  this,  General  Gage  arrived  at  Boston,  and  as- 
sumed the  government.  Having  convened  the  Legislature  at  the 
capital,  he  addressed  them  in  the  usual  form,  and  prorogued  them 
to  Salem.  On  the  reopening  of  the  court,  in  reply  to  his  inaugu- 
ral speech,  they  reflected  so  severely  on  his  two  immediate  prede- 
cessors, that  he  refused  to  hear  the  answer  read  through.  The 
representatives,  as  usual,  returned  to  their  grievances,  passed  res- 
olutions advising  the  citizens  of  Boston  to  be  firm  and  patient, 
and  recommended  their  brethren  of  the  other  towns  to  assist  the 
distressed  people  of  the  metropolis.  They  strongly  urged  an  en- 
tire abstinence  from  the  use  of  British  goods,  and  of  all  articles 
subject  to  parliamentary  duties.  They  also  requested  the  gov- 
ernor to  appoint  a  fast,  and  when  he  refused,  ordered  one  them- 
selves. They  then  decided  "  that  a  meeting  of  commitees  from  the 
several  colonies  on  this  continent  is  highly  expedient  and  necessary, 
to  consult  upon  the  present  state  of  the  country,  and  the  miseries  to 
which  we  are  and  must  be  reduced,  by  the  operation  of  certain 
acts  of  Parliament ;  and  to  deliberate  and  determine  on  wise  and 
proper  measures,  to  be  recommended  to  all  the  colonies,  for  the 
recovery  and  re-establishment  of  our  just  rights  and  liberties,  civil 
and  religious,  and  the  restoration  of  union  and  harmony  between 
Great  Britain  and  America,  which  is  most  ardently  desired  by  all 
good  men."  The  1st  of  September  was  designated  as  the  time 
of  holding  this  Congress,  and  Philadelphia  the  place  of  meeting. 
The  Speaker,  and  four  others,  where  chosen  delegates.  A  treas- 
urer was  appointed,  and  the  towns  were  called  upon  to  pay  in 
their  respective  shares  of  the  sum  of  £500,  voted  to  the  delegates 
in  payment  of  their  expenses,  to  be  assessed  on  the  inhabitants 
according  to  the  last  appointment  of  local  taxes. 

Hardly  was  this  business  completed,  when  Gage,  informed  of 
what  was  going  on,  sent  the  provincial  secretary  to  dissolve  the 
Court.  Finding  the  doors  shut,  and  being  denied  admittance,  he 
read  on  the  steps  the  governor's  proclamation,  and  thus  terminated 


306  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

the  last  session  of  the  last  Provincial  General  Court  of  Massachu- 
setts. 

The  non-importation  or  consumption  agreement  recommended 
by  it,  had  been  adopted  at  a  meeting  in  Boston,  in  the  form  of  a 
"  solemn  league  and  covenant,"  to  commence  on  the  first  of 
October  following. 

A  committee,  consisting  of  two  members  from  each  province, 
reported  at  this  Congress,  a  "  declaration  of  colonial  rights,"  in 
which  the  enjoyment  of  life,  liberty,  and  property  were  claimed. 
The  privilege  of  being  bound  by  no  law  to  which  they  had  not 
assented  by  their  representatives,  was  asserted  by  them  in  their 
character  of  British  subjects.  The  sole  and  exclusive  power  of 
legislation  for  the  provinces,  was  declared  to  reside  in  their  As- 
semblies, reserving  to  Parliament  the  enactment  only  of  those 
laws  that  might  be  essential  to  the  bond  fide  regulation  of  trade, 
but  excluding  all  taxation,  internal  or  external.  The  common 
law  of  England  was  insisted  upon  as  the  birthright  of  the  people, 
including  a  trial  by  jury  of  the  vicinage,  the  right  of  public  meet- 
ings, and  petition.  A  protest  was  also  made  against  standing 
armies  being  maintained  in  the  colonies  without  their  consent ; 
and  against  legislation  by  Councils  dependent  on  the  Crown. 
All  immunities  hitherto  enjoyed  in  the  plantations,  whether  by 
charter  or  custom,  were  claimed  as  established  rights,  beyond  the 
power  of  the  mother  country  to  abrogate.  Eleven  acts  of  Parlia- 
ment, passed  since  the  accession  of  George  III.,  .the  Sugar,  the 
Stamp,  and  the  two  Quartering  Acts,  the  Tea,  the  Quebec,  that 
for  suspending  the  New  York  Legislature,  and  the  two  Acts 
authorizing  the  trial  in  Great  Britain  of  offenses  committed  in 
America,  together  with  the  Boston  Port  Bill,  and  the  law  for  regu- 
lating the  government  of  Massachusetts,  were  enumerated  in 
conclusion,  as  having  been  passed  in  derogation  of  colonial  jurisdic- 
tion. To  enforce  these  claims,  fourteen  articles  were  agreed  upon 
as  the  basis  of  an  "  American  Association,"  pledging  the  subscrib- 
ers to  an  entire  commercial  non-intercourse  with  Great  Britain,  Ire- 
land ,  and  the  West  Indies,  and  the  non-consumption  of  tea  and  Brit- 
ish goods :  the  former  to  be  extended  to  such  provinces  of  North 
America  as  should  decline  to  come  into  the  association,  and  to 
last  till  the  obnoxious  acts  of  Parliament  should  be  repealed. 
The  latter  clauses  were  to  commence  in  December,  but  those  pro- 
hibiting importation  were  postponed  for  nine  months  longer. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  307 

Governor  Gage  had  issued  writs  for  holding  a  General  Assem- 
bly at  Salem,  but  afterward  judged  it  expedient  further  to  pro- 
rogue the  meeting.  The  legality  of  the  measure  was  questioned ; 
and  the  new  members,  to  the  number  of  ninety,  meeting  accord- 
ing to  the  precept,  and  neither  the  governor  nor  any  substitute 
attending,  they  resolved  themselves  into  a  provincial  congress,  and 
soon  after  adjourned  to  Concord.  They  there  chose  Mr.  John 
Hancock  president ;  and  appointed  a  committee  to  wait  on  the 
governor  with  a  remonstrance,  concluding  with  an  earnest  re- 
quest that  he  would  desist  from  "  the  construction  of  the  fortress, 
at  the  entrance  into  Boston,  and  restore  that  pass  to  its  neutral 
state."  The  governor  expressed  himself  indignantly  at  their 
supposition  of  danger  from  English  troops,  to  any  except  enemies ; 
and  warned  them  to  desist  from  their  illegal  proceedings.  With- 
out regarding  his  admonition,  they  adjourned  to  Cambridge,  and, 
when  reassembled,  they  appointed  a  committee  to  draw  up  a  plar 
for  the  immediate  defense  of  the  province ;  resolved  to  enlist  A. 
number  of  the  inhabitants,  to  be  in  readiness  to  turn  out  at  a 
minute's  warning ;  elected  three  general  officers  to  command 
those  minute-men  and  the  militia,  in  case  of  their  being  called  out 
to  action  ;  and  appointed  a  committee  of  safety  and  another  of  sup- 
plies. 

The  same  congress  meeting  again  in  November,  resolved  to 
raise  twelve  thousand  men,  to  act  on  any  emergency ;  that  a 
fourth  part  of  the  militia  should  be  enlisted,  as  minute-men,  and 
receive  pay ;  appointed  two  additional  general  officers,  and  sent 
persons  to  New  Hampshire,  Rhode  Island,  and  Connecticut,  to 
inform  those  colonies  of  its  measures,  and  to  request  their  co-ope- 
ration, in  making  up  an  army  of  twenty-thousand  men.*  A 
committee  was  appointed  to  correspond  with  the  inhabitants  of 
Canada,  and  a  circular  letter  was  addressed  to  the  several  minis- 
ters in  the  province,  requesting  their  assistance  in  averting  the 
threatened  slavery. 

Toward  the  close  of  the  year.'a  proclamation,  that  had  been 
issued  by  the  king,  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  military  stores 
from  Great  Britain,  reached  America.  The  people  of  Rhode 
Island  no  sooner  received  an  account  of  it,  than  they  removed 
from  the  public  battery  about  forty  pieces  of  cannon  ;  and  the 
Assembly  passed  resolutions  for  obtaining  arms  and  military 

*  Holmes. 


308  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

stores,  and  for  raising  and  arming  the  inhabitants.  In  New 
Hampshire,  four  hundred  men  assailed  his  Majesty's  castle,  at 
Portsmouth,  stormed  it,  and  confined  the  garrison  until  they  had 
broken  open  the  magazine,  and  taken  away  the  powder.* 

The  British  Government  did  not  relax  its  coercive  measures 
relative  to  the  colonies.  The  king,  in  his  speech  to  Parliament, 
toward  the  close  of  the  preceding  year  (30th  November),  had  stated, 
"  that  a  most  daring  spirit  of  resistance  and  disobedience  to  the 
laws  unhappily  prevailed  in  the  province  of  Massachusetts,  and 
had  broken  forth  in  fresh  violence  of  a  very  criminal  nature  ;  that 
these  proceedings  had  been  countenanced  and  encouraged  in  his 
other  colonies,  and  unwarrantable  attempts  made  to  obstruct  the 
commerce  of  his  kingdom,  by  unlawful  combination  ;  and  that 
he  had  taken  such  measures,  and  given  such  orders,  as  he  judged 
most  proper  and  effectual  for  carrying  into  execution  the  laws 
which  were  passed  in  the  last  session  of  the  late  Parliament,  rel- 
ative to  the  province  of  Massachusetts."  An  address,  proposed 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  in  answer  to  his  speech,  and  echoing 
it,  produced  a  warm  debate,  but  it  was  carried  by  a  large  majority. 
A  similar  address  was  carried,  after  a  spirited  debate,  in  the 
Upper  House,  but  nine  Lords  entered  a  protest  against  it. 

When  the  dispatches  and  papers  relative  to  the  colonies,  were 
laid  upon  the  table,  a  joint  address  from  the  Lords  and  Commons, 
was  presented  to  his  Majesty,  in  which  they  returned  thanks  for 
the  communication  of  the  official  documents ;  gave  it  as  their 
opinion,  that  a  rebellion  actually  existed  in  the  province  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Bay ;  besought  his  Majesty  to  take  the  most  effectual 
measures  to  enforce  due  obedience  to  the  laws  and  authority  of 
the  supreme  legislature  :  and  in  the  most  solemn  manner  assured 
him,  that  it  was  their  fixed  resolution,  at  the  hazard  of  their 
lives  and  property,  to  stand  by  his  Majesty  against  all  rebellious 
attempts,  in  the  maintenance  of  the  just  rights  of  the  Crown, 
and  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament.  The  next  day,  Lord  North 
moved  for  leave  to  bring  in  a  bill  to  restrain  the  trade  and  com- 
merce of  the  provinces  of  New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  and  Connecticut,  to  Great  Britain,  Ireland,  and  the  Brit- 
ish Islands  in  the  West  Indies  ;  and  to  prohibit  those  colonies 
from  carrying  on  any  fishery  on  the  banks  of  Newfoundland,  and 
any  other  places  to  be  mentioned  in  the  bill,  under  certain  condi- 

*  Holmes. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  309 

tions,  and  for  a  limited  time.  After  much  opposition,  in  both 
Houses,  the  bill  was  carried  by  a  large  majority.1* 

While  this  bill  was  depending,  Lord  North  suddenly  moved 
what  he  termed  a  conciliatory  proposition,  the  purport  of  which 
was  that  Parliament  would  forbear  to  tax  any  province,  which 
should  engage  to  contribute  its  proportion  to  the  support  of  the 
civil  government,  and  the  administration  of  justice  in  such  colony. 
This  proposition,  which  at  an  earlier  period  of  the  dispute,  would 
have  been  accepted  as  a  great  boon,  had  now  no  beneficial  effect 
whatever,  and  was  construed  into  an  attempt  to  divide  the  Pro- 
vincials. 

Soon  after  Parliament  had  passed  the  bill  for  restraining  the 
trade  of  New  England,  intelligence  was  received  that  the  inhab- 
itants of  the  middle  and  southern  colonies  were  supporting  their 
northern  brethren,  in  every  measure  of  opposition,  which  occasion- 
ed a  second  bill  to  be  brought  in  and  passed,  imposing  similar  re- 
strictions on  the  colonies  of  East  and  West  Jersey,  Pennsylvania, 
Maryland,  Virginia,  South  Carolina,  and  the  counties  on  the 
Delaware.  The  three  excepted  colonies  declined  the  favor,  and 
submitted  to  the  restraints  imposed  upon  their  neighbors.  Tarring 
and  feathering,  and  other  acts  of  personal  outrage,  became  now 
so  common  in  Massachusetts,  that  all  suspected  partisans  of  the 
mother  country  were  obliged  to  seek  refuge  with  the  troops. 

A  considerable  quantity  of  military  stores  having  been  deposit- 
ed at  Concord,  an  inland  town,  about  eighteen  miles  from  Bos- 
ton, General  Gage  proposed  to  destroy  them.  For  the  execution 
of  this  design,  he,  on  the  night  preceding  the  19th  of  April,  de- 
tached Lieutenant-colonel  Smith  and  Major  Pitcairn,  with  eight 
"hundred  grenadiers  and  light  infantry,  who,  at  eleven  o'clock, 
embarked  in  boats  at  the  bottom  of  the  Common  in  Boston,  cross- 
ed the  Pi-iver  Charles,  and  landing  at  Phipps'  farm,  in  Cambridge, 
commenced  a  silent  and  expeditious  march  for  Concord.  On  the 
arrival  of  the  British  troops  at  Lexington,  toward  five  in  the 
morning,  about  seventy  men,  belonging  to  the  minute  company 
of  that  town,  were  found  on  the  parade  under  arms,  with  whom 
a  conflict  arose,  that  ended  in  the  death  of  eight  Americans. 
The  British  detachment  then  proceeded  to  Concord,  where  they 
disabled  two  twenty-four-pounders,  threw  five  hundred  pound:  rf 
ball  into  the  river  and  wells,  and  broke  in  pieces  about  sixty  b.  « 

*  Holmes. 


310  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

rels  of  iiour.  All  the  people  of  the  adjacent  country,  were  by 
this  time  in  arms,  and  attacked  the  retreating  troops  in  every  di- 
rection. Some  fired  from  behind  stone  walls  and  other  coverts  ; 
others  pressed  on  their  rear ;  and  thus  harassed,  they  made  good 
their  retreat  six  miles  back  to  Lexington.  Here  they  were  found 
by  Lord  Percy,  who,  most  opportunely  for  them,  had  arrived  with 
a  detachment  of  nine  hundred  men,  and  two  pieces  of  cannon. 
The  close  firing  from  behind  stone  walls,  by  good  marksmen,  put 
them  into  no  small  confusion ;  but  they  kept  up  a  brisk  retreating 
fire  on  the  militia  and  minute  men.  A  little  after  sunset,  the 
regulars  reached  Bunker's  Hill,  and  the  next  morning  marched 
into  Boston. 

The  battle  of  Lexington,  as  this  skirmish  was  called,  was  a 
signal  of  war.  The  forts,  magazines,  and  arsenals  throughout 
the  colonies,  were  instantly  secured  for  the  use  of  the  Provincials. 
Regular  forces  were  raised,  and  money  was  issued  for  their  sup- 
port. An  army  of  twenty  thousand  men  appeared  in  the  en- 
virons of  Boston,  and  formed  a  line  of  encampment  from  Hoxbury 
to  the  River  Mystic.  The  army  was  soon  increased  by  a  large 
body  of  troops  from  Connecticut,  under  Colonel  Putnam,  an  old 
and  experienced  officer  ;  and  by  these  collective  forces,  the  king's 
troops  were  closely  blocked  up  in  the  peninsula  of  Boston.  This 
was  the  commencement  of  the  Revolutionary  struggle.  The 
battle  of  Breed's,  or,  as  it  is  commonly  called,  Bunker's  Hill, 
followed  on  the  15th  of  June,  1775  ;  and  on  the  second  of  July, 
Washington,  who  had  been  unanimously  chosen  by  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  Commander;in-chief  of  the  colonial  army,  arrived 
at  the  camp  at  Cambridge,  and  entered  upon  the  arduous  and 
difficult  duties  of  his  high  and  responsible  office.  Of  the  events ' 
of  the  war  I  shall  not  attempt  to  give  any  account,  as  they  are 
wholly  unconnected  with  the  object  of  this  work,  and  are  all 
either  well  known  or  fully  recorded  in  numerous  contemporaneous 
histories  both  English  and  American.  Its  results  are  soon  told. 
On  the  30th  of  November,  1783,  provisional  articles  of  peace, 
between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  were  agreed  to  be 
inserted  formally  into  a  treaty,  by  which  the  independence  of  the 
latter  was  acknowledged  in  its  fullest  extent. 

I'hus  were  thirteen  extensive  and  valuable  colonies  severed 
f»  m  Great  Britain  at  one  time.  On  their  part,  they  owed  their 
i  i-igin  to  dissent  and  disaffection,  and  their  independence  to  rebel 


THE    ENULISH    IN   AMERICA.  311 

ion.  On  the  part  of  England,  they  were  suffered  to  grow  up  to 
maturity  in  neglect.  As  soon  as  they  became  opulent,  she  re- 
solved to  tax  them  without  their  consent,  and  in  the  contest  that 
ensued,  showed  that  the  injustice  of  the  measure  was  only  equal- 
ed by  the  imbecility  with  which  it  was  attempted  to  be  enforced.* 
The  annals  of  civilized  countries  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  such 
a  series  of  "  Rule  and  Misrule,"  as  that  exhibited  by  Great 
Britain  in  her  conduct  toward  her  American  provinces. 

*  Although  the  contest  was  a  very  unequal  one,  the  disparity  was  not  so  great 
as  appears  at  first  sight.  De  Pradt,  in  his  work  entitled  "The  Colonies,"  has 
some  very  judicious  remarks  on  this  subject.  See  chap.  xm.  p.  217,  Lond.  Ed. 
"Three  millions,"  he  says,  " of  Americans  felt  themselves  strong  enough  to  re- 
sist, with  their  whole  mass,  the  detachments  which  England  could  send  against 
them.  England  could  put  a  fraction  of  her  population — a  very  particle — in  mo- 
tion. America  could  defend  herself  with  all  hers.  She  had,  therefore,  no  need 
to  be  equal  to  England  in  population,  but  only  in  that  part  of  that  population 
which  was  disposable  against  her ;  these  never  amounted  to  more  than  ten  or 
twenty  thousand  English  that  could  proceed  to  attack  her;  and,  on  her  side,  it 
was  with  the  whole  of  her  population  that  she  was  enabled  to  repel  the  attack. 
The  former  were  under  the  necessity  of  making  a  long  voyage,  under  all  the 
disadvantages  of  maritime  expeditions;  the  American  population  was  at  hand 
in  the  country.  The  parent  state  could  not  displace  herself,  in  a  body,  as  a  na- 
tion ;  a  nation,  on  the  contrary,  can  defend  herself,  with  the  advantage  of  the 
presence  of  all  its  members  on  the  theatre  of  war.  The  issue  of  the  contest 
could  not  be  doubtful,  and  never  will  be  doubtful  against  proportion  so  very  dif- 
ferent. In  all  this  there  is  but  one  thing  that  astonishes  us,  and  that  is,  that  a 
people  so  enlightened  as  the  English  ever  engaged  in  such  a  contest." 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Reasons  for  confining  Political  Sketch  solely  to  Canada — Proclamation  for  Es- 
tablishing the  Government  at  Quebec  and  Inviting  Emigration — An  express 
Promise  given  that  the  Laws  of  England  should  be  introduced — First  great 
Error  was  ordering  a  Code  of  Laws  to  be  compiled  for  the  French,  restoring 
the  old  tenure  of  their  Estates — Quebec  Act — Character  of  Loyalists — Consti- 
tution Act  31  George  III.,  c.  31,  divides  Canada  into  two  Provinces — Form 
of  Government — The  above-named  Acts  of  Parliament  the  Cause  of  all  the 
Canadian  Troubles — Mistake  in  allowing  French  to  be  the  recording  Language, 
and  in  giving  Constitutional  Government  before  People  were  ready  to  receive 
it — First  House  of  Assembly — Proportion  of  English  and  French  Members — 
Gradual  Change  in  Character  of  Delegates — Impeachment  of  Judges — Re- 
peated Reference  to  Parliament — Lord  Aylmer  entreats  the  Assembly  to 
bring  forward  all  their  Grievances  at  once — Commission  of  Inquiry — Stoppage 
of  Supplies — Distress  of  Public  Officers — Rebellion — Thome's  Conduct — Ar- 
rival of  Lord  Durham — Review — Responsible  Government — Enumeration  of 
the  Defects  of  the  System — Remedies  suggested. 

AT  the  conclusion  of  the  War  of  Independence,  there  remained 
in  possession  of  Great  Britain  but  two  provinces,  Canada  and 
Nova  Scotia.  The  latter  has  subsequently  been  divided  into 
two  governments — one  retaining  its  ancient  name,  and  the  other 
called  New  Brunswick.  These  two  last  I  shall  pass  over  alto- 
gether. In  point  of  territory  they  are  severally  very  extensive ; 
but  their  population  is  still  small,  although  it  possesses  the  great 
advantage  of  being  homogeneous,  well  affected,  and  easily  govern- 
ed. A  sketch  of  their  political  history  would  therefore  be  devoid 
of  general  interest  in  Europe.  My  remarks  will  be  *  exclusively 
applied  to  Canada  ;  so  much  so,  that  although  there  is  a  striking 
similarity  in  the  constitution  of  all,  I  shall  not  even  notice  those 
particulars  in  which  they  differ  or  agree,  or  allude  to  them  in  any 
way  whatever.  That  which  may  be  made  to  work  satisfactorily 
in  a  small  colony,  like  Nova  Scotia  or  New  Brunswick,  is  as  ob- 
viously inapplicable  to  a  vast  country  like  Canada,  peopled  by 
two  irreconcilable  races,  as  that  of  Great  Britain,  with  its  House 
of  Peers,  system  of  entail,  and  intrinsic  connection  of  Church  and 

*  The  first  part  of  this  chapter  has  been  abridged  from  more  extended  workg 
of  the  author  on  colonial  matters  and  from  provincial  histories. 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  313 

State,  would  be  to  an  American  province.  It  does  not  follow 
therefore,  that,  where  defects  are  pointed  out  in  the  structure  of 
the  Canadian  Government,  that  they  exist  elsewhere  under  the 
same  institutions  ;  for  the  character  of  the  people,  and  their  in- 
telligence may  be  so  different,  that  what  is  too  democratic  in  one, 
may  be  too  aristocratical  or  restrictive  in  the  other.  There,  they 
may  be  so  glaring  as  to  require  a  remedy.  Here,  they  may  not 
be  apparent,  or  if  perceptible,  not  inconvenient.  While  at  the 
same  time,  if  their  pressure  is  felt,  modification  only  may  be  nec- 
essary, and  not  an  organic  change. 

For  this  reason,  I  wish  to  guard  myself  from  making  sweeping 
assertions ;  which,  for  the  causes  I  have  assigned,  can  not  be  in 
all  eases  accurate,  inasmuch  as  they  could  not  always  stand  the 
test  of  universal  application.  I  shall  not  therefore  enter  into  any 
comparisons  or  digressions  whatever,  but  limit  my  observations  to 
the  "  Empire  Colony"  of  Canada,  the  political  changes  of  which 
I  shall  endeavor  very  briefly  to  sketch. 

By  the  Treaty  of  Peace,  in  the  year  1763,  Canada  was  ceded  in 
full  sovereignty  and  right  to  his  Britannic  Majesty  ;  and  the  French 
inhabitants,  who  chose  to  remarh  in  the  country,  were  secured  in  the 
enjoyment  of  their  property  and  possessions,  and  the  free  exercise 
of  their  religion.  In  the  month  of  October  following,  his  Majesty 
published  a  proclamation  for  erecting  the  Government  of  Quebec, 
and  exhorted  his  subjects,  as  well  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland, 
as  also  of  his  Colonies  in  America,  to  avail  themselves  of  the 
benefits  and  advantages  that  would  accrue  from  thi&  great  and 
valuable  acquisition  to  their  commerce,  manufactures,  and  navi- 
gation. As  an  encouragement  to  them  to  do  so,  he  informed  them 
that  in  the  commission  he  had  forwarded  to  the  Civil  Governor, 
he  had  given  him  express  power  and  directions  to  summon,  so 
soon  as  circumstances  would  admit,  a  General  Assembly,  in  such 
manner  as  was  used  in  those  colonies  in  America,  which  were 
under  his  Majesty's  immediate  government ;  and  until  a  Legisla- 
ture could  be  organized,  all  persons  resorting  there  might  confide 
in  the  royal  protection,  for  the  enjoyment  of  the  benefit  of  the 
taws  of  his  realm  of  England ;  that  for  that  purpose,  he  had 
given  power  under  the  Great  Seal  to  the  governor,  to  erect  and 
constitute  Courts  of  Judicature,  for  the  hearing  and  determining 
of  all  causes,  as  well  criminal  as  civil,  as  near  as  might  be,  agree- 
ably to  the  laws  of  England ;  and  with  liberty  to  all  persons  to  • 

O 


3i4  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

appeal,  under  the  usual  limitations  and  restrictions,  to  his  Majesty 
iu  his  Privy  Council. 

It  appears,  therefore,  both  from  the  proclamation  and  commis 
sion,  that  the  Ministry  were  evidently  of  opinion  that,  by  the  re- 
litsal  of  General  Amherst,  to  grant  to  the  Canadians  the  continu- 
ance of  their  ancient  laws  and  usages,  and  by  the  reference  made 
in  the  fourth  article  of  the  definitive  treaty  of  peace,  to  those 
of  Great  Britain,  as  the  measure  of  indulgence  intended  to  be 
shown  them  with  respect  to  the  exercise  of  their  religion,  suffi- 
cient notice  had  been  given  them  that  they  would  be  governed  for 
the  future  according  to  the  laws  of  England.  It  is  evident  also, 
that  the  inhabitants,  after  being  thus  apprised  of  his  Majesty's 
intention,  had  testified  their  consent  by  continuing  to  reside  in 
the  country,  and  by  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance,  when  they 
might  have  withdrawn  themselves,  with  all  their  effects,  within 
eighteen  months,  allowed  by  the  treaty  of  peace  for  that  object. 
In  consequence  of  the  introduction  of  the  laws  of  England  into 
the  province,  the  governor,  in  an  ordinance,  dated  the  17th  day 
of  September,  1764,  directed  the  Chief  Justice  and  other  judges 
of  the  province  to  determine  all  crifninal  and  civil  causes,  agree- 
ably to  them,  with  this  just  and  prudent  proviso,  that  the  French 
laws  and  customs  should  be  allowed  and  admitted  in  all  causes 
in  said  court,  between  the  natives  of  the  province,'  in  which  the 
cause  of  action  arose  before  the  first  day  of  October,  1764. 

In  consequence  of  these  instruments  of  government,  the  laws 
of  England  were  generally  adopted.  At  this  time  the  popula- 
tion of  Canada  amounted  to  65,000  souls,  and  was  chiefly  con- 
fined to  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  its  tributary  streams. 
As  the  people  had  now  become  British  subjects,  it  was  deemed 
expedient  to  introduce,  as  soon  as  possible,  emigrants  of  English 
extraction,  as  well  for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  defensive  power 
within  the  province,  as  to  induce  the  French  to  acquire  the  lan- 
guage and  adopt  the  habits  of  their  conquerors.  The  officers  and 
soldiers  of  the  army,  that  had  served  in  America  during  the  inter-colo- 
nial wars,  were  rewarded  with  grants  of  land  in  the  country ;  and 
liberal  offers  were  made  to  the  people  in  the  other  colonies,  and  to 
emigrants  from  Europe,  to  remove  thither.  The  facilities  of  in- 
ternal transport,  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and  salubrity  of  the  cli 
mate,  operated  so  powerfully,  that,  in  a  short  time,  the  influx  of 
strangers  was  so  great  as  to  induce  the  hope  that  it  would  speedily 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  315 

rival  the  New  England  states  in  population  and  wealth ;  and  no 
doubt  can  now  be  entertained  that,  if  the  terms  of  the  proclama- 
tion had  been  honestly  adhered  to,  these  expectations  would  have 
been  fully  realized. 

As  a  matter  of  policy,  nothing  could  have  been  more  wise 
than,  since  it  had  now  become  a  British  colony,  to  endeavor,  as 
soon  as  possible,  to  make  it  so  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name.  The 
first  fatal  error  that  was  committed  was  ordering  a  code  of  laws 
to  be  prepared,  -with  such  modifications  as  would  secure  to  the 
French  the  system  of  tenure  and  inheritance  to  which  they  had 
been  accustomed.  This  occasioned  much  delay,  and  enabled  their 
leaders  to  represent  that  any  change  would  alienate  the  affections 
of  the  inhabitants,  who  would  naturally  extend  to  the  government 
the  dislike  they  felt  to  its  institutions.  Unfortunately,  while  this 
was  under  consideration,  the  time  had  arrived  when  they  could 
enforce  the  demands  with  a  threat,  and  the  rebellion,  which  after- 
ward broke  out  in  the  English  provinces  (now  constituting  the 
United  States),  made  their  conciliation  a  matter  of  state  policy. 
It  was,  therefore,  determined  at  once  to  restore  the  French  laws 
as  they  existed  at  the  conquest ;  and  the  celebrated  Quebec  Act, 
14  Geo.  III.,  c.  83,  was  passed  for  this  purpose.  The  statute 
enacted,  "  that  his  Majesty's  subjects,  professing  the  religion  of 
Rome,  may  enjoy  the  free  exercise  of  it,  and  that  its  clergy  may 
hold  and  receive  their  accustomed  dues  and  rights  ;"  and  then  em- 
powered "  his  Majesty,  his  heirs  or  successors,  to  make  provision 
for  the  support  of  the  Protestant  clergy  within  the  said  province." 
But  by  far  the  most  important  clause  was  one,  which  after  re- 
citing that  the  English  laws,  that  had  prevailed  there  for  ten 
years,  administered  and  regulated  under  commissions  to  governors, 
had  been  found  inapplicable  to  the  state  and  circumstances  of  the 
country,  enacted  that  frpm  and  after  the  1st  of  May,  1775,  the 
said  English  laws  and  practice  of  courts  should  be  annulled.. 
This  flagrant  violation  of  the  promises  held  out  in  the  proclama- 
tion, and  of  the  terms  upon  which  the  people  of  British  origin  had 
settled  there,  filled  them  with  dismay.  They  felt  that  they  had 
the  wretched  choice  presented  to  them  of  abandoning  their  prop- 
erty, or  of  remaining  in  a  miserable  minority,  to  be  ruled  anl 
governed  by  foreigners,  whose  favor  could  only  be  conciliated  by 
their  forgetting  their  country,  their  language,  and  their  religion 
as  soon  as  possible,  and  becoming  Frenchmen. 


316  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

They  accordingly  lost  no  time  in  forwarding  petitions,  in  which 
they  were  joined  by  the  merchants  of  London  interested  in  tht 
North  American  trade,  to  the  king  and  the  two  Houses  of  Parlia- 
ment, expressive  of  their  sense  of  the  injury  they  had  sustained, 
and  the  misery  likely  to  be  entailed  by  this  statute  upon  the 
province.  No  repeal,  however,  was  effected,  and  the  act  remained 
as  it  was  passed.  But  the  English  found  that  their  opponents 
were  first  in  the  field,  whereby  they  were  put  on  the  defensive ; 
so  that  instead  of  seeking  what  was  due  to  themselves,  they  were 
compelled  to  expostulate,  that  too  great  a  share  had  been  given 
to  their  rivals.  The  advantage  the  French  gained  by  this  posi- 
tion they  have  constantly  maintained,  and  it  is  a  singular  fact, 
that  while  the  English  have  been  the  only  aggrieved  party  in 
the  country,  the  former  have  forestalled  the  attention  of  the  public, 
and  engrossed  the  whole  of  its  sympathy.  After  the  peace  of 
1783  the  Loyalists  withdrew  from  the  United  States,  and  the 
greater  part  of  them  removed  into  Canada,  sacrificing  their  happy 
homes,  and  the  comfortable  estates,  which  they  had  previously 
acquired  and  enjoyed  in  the  revolted  colonies,  and  preferring  the 
inhospitable  wilds  of  the  trackless  forest,  to  yielding  up  their 
fidelity  to  their  king.  They  consisted  chiefly  of  the  middle  and 
upper  classes  in  their  own  country,  and  were  an  intelligent,  active 
and  valuable  body  of  men.  No  portion  of  the  British  possessions 
ever  received  such"  a  noble  acquisition.* 

The  experiment  of  settling  America  with  republicans,  and 
taxing  them  without  their  consent,  had  been  tried  and  failed. 
A  fairer  prospect  now  opened  to  England  than  ever  fell  to  the  lot 
of  any  European  nation,  for  successful  colonization.  With  an 
experience  of  nearly  two  centuries  in  the  art  of  planting  and  gov- 
erning, with  an  immense  territory,  intersected  with  noble  rivers 
and  lakes,  abounding  in  mineral  wealth,  and  a  fishery  superior 
to  any  thing  in  the  known  world,  an  intelligent  and  devoted 

*  "  I  could  adduce  instances  of  conduct  in  loyalists  that  would  do  honor  to 
human  nature ;  but  there  is  one  which  I  can  not  pass  over,  because  it  shows 
with  what  firmness  men  will  act,  when  they  are  conscious  that  they  have  taken 
the  right  side  of  a  question.  A  fort  was  reduced  by  the  Americans  on  the 
River  Savannah,  and  such  of  the  loyal  militia  as  were  in  garrison  there,  had 
the  alternative  offered  them  of  enlisting  with  the  Americans,  or  being  put  to 
death.  Among  the  loyalists  was  a  young  man  who  desired  a  few  minutes  to 
consider  the  proposal,  and  after  a  short  pause  he  resolutely  answered,  '  that  he 
preferred  death  to  disgrace,'  on  which  account  he  was  immediately  cut  down." 
— Stokis  on  the  British  Colonies  in  North  America,  p.  43. 


THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  317 

population,  and  millions  of  acres  of  fertile  land  to  reward  and 
incite  industry  :  she  possessed  all  the  elements  for  laying  the 
foundation  of  a  great  and  prosperous  empire.  Has  she  succeed- 
ed ?  If  not,  where  does  the  fault  lie  ?  Is  it  in  the  people,  or  in 
the  government  ?  If  it  be  in  the  people,  what  has  caused  the 
change  ?  If  in  the  government,  why  has  not  a  remedy  been 
applied  for  the  disease  1  The  loyalists  from  the  United  States 
united  with  those  of  their  countrymen  who  had  previously  settled 
there,  in  demanding  a  modification  of  the  Quebec  Act,  and  the 
establishment  of  a  local  legislature.  The  petition  of  these  people 
gave  rise  to  the  act  of  the  31st  Geo.  III.,  c.  31,  commonly  called' 
the  Constitution  Act,  to  which  two  laws  is  to  be  attributed  all  the 
trouble  experienced  in  governing  Canada.  In  the  fatal  con- 
cessions to  the  French,  contained  in  these  acts,  is  to  be  found  the 
origin  of  that  anti-British  feeling  which  increased  with  every 
exercise  of  those  powers,  until  it  assumed  the  shape  of  concen- 
trated hatred  and  open  rebellion.  By  this  latter  act,  Canada 
was  divided  into  two  provinces,  respectively  called  Upper  and 
Lower  Canada.  To  this  latter  country  this  celebrated  law  gave 
a  Constitution,  consisting  of  a  Governor  and  Executive  Council  of 
eleven  members,  appointed  by  the  Crown  ;  a  Legislative  Council, 
forming  the  second  estate,  appointed  in  like  manner,  consisting  of 
fifteen  members  (but  subsequently  increased  to  forty),  and  a 
representative  Assembly  or  House  of  Commons,  composed  of  fifty 
members  (afterward  increased  to  eighty-eight),  each  having 
powers  as  nearly  analogous  to  those  of  King.  Lords,  and  Com- 
mons respectively,  as  the  varied  circumstances  of  the  two  coun- 
tries and  the  dependence  of  the  colony  would  admit  of.  The 
enacting  power  thus  bestowed  upon  the  colony,  introduced  from 
year  to  year  another  set  of  statutes,  in  addition  to  what  they  were 
subject  to  already,  so  that  they  soon  had  a  union  of  French, 
English,  and  provincial  law. 

It  is  very  difficult  to  conceive  how  the  statesmen  who  sanc- 
tioned the  substitution  of  this  extraordinary  code  for  that  of  En- 
gland, could  have  imagined  that  it  should  ever  be  productive  of 
any  thing  but  discord  in  a  country  inhabited  by  two  races,  differ- 
ing as  widely  in  origin  as  in  language  and  religion.  Any  person 
at  all  acquainted  with  the  prejudices  and  passions  that  operate  on 
man  will  easily  understand  that  the  French,  jealous  of  any  inno- 
vation, were  constantly  suspicious  of  an  intention  to  infringe  upon 


318  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

their  rights  and  introduce  a  system  of  jurisprudence  with  which 
they  were  unacquainted ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  that  the  English, 
naturally  an  enterprising  and  commercial  people,  found  the  feudal 
tenure  an  intolerable  burden,  and  spurned  with  indignation  the 
idea  of  being  subject  to  the  government  of  a  race  whom  they  had 
conquered,  and  to  the  operation  of  laws,  which  even  the  very 
nation  with  whom  they  originated  had  rejected,  as  unsuited  to 
the  exigencies  of  the  times.  In  addition  to  the  grievous  error  of 
establishing  a  code  of  laws  that  existed  nowhere  else,  three  others 
were  committed  of  nearly  equal  magnitude  :  first,  in  dividing 
Canada  into  two  provinces,  and  thus  separating  the  French  from 
the  English  majority  ;  secondly,  in  permitting  the  language  of  the 
courts  and  the  records  of  the  Parliament  to  be  French ;  and 
thirdly,  in  giving,  at  such  an  early  period,  and  before  the  people 
were  fitted  to  receive  it,  a  constitutional  government.  Not  con- 
tent with  these  acts  of  folly  and  injustice,  the  French  were  in- 
trusted with  an  almost  exclusive  possession  of  the  popular  branch 
of  the  Legislature,  and  were  even  constituted  at  the  same  time 
toll-keepers  to  the  adjoining  province.  Both  the  ports  of  Quebec 
and  Montreal  were  assigned  to  the  French,  and  the  inhabitants 
of  Upper  Canada  were  thus  cut  off  from  all  communication  with 
the  mother  country,  but  such  as  might  be  granted  by  the  Ameri- 
cans or  their  Gallic  neighbors.  The  experiment  of  constitutional 
government  was  never  tried  by  a  people  less  qualified  for  the  task 
than  the  French  Canadians.  They  were,  without  doubt,  the 
most  ignorant  inhabitants  of  any  portion  of  America.  But  few 
of  them  could  read  or  write.  They  were  even  unacquainted  with 
the  common  operations  of  husbandry,  preferring  the  listless  idle- 
ness engendered  by  a  fertile  soil,  that  yielded  its  productions  with- 
out the  aid  of  art,  to  the  laborious  occupations  of  the  enterprising 
Anglo-Saxons.  Accustomed  to  implicit  obedience,  they  saved 
themselves  the  trouble  of  thinking,  and  yielded  their  judgment  to 
their  leaders,  and  their  conscience  to  their  priests.  Yet  to  such  a 
people  was  intrusted  the  power  not  only  of  making  laws,  but  of 
governing  the  English.  The  experience  of  all  ages  was  against 
the  experiment.  "  How  can  he  get  wisdom  that  holdeth  the 
plow  and  that  glorieth  in  the  goad ;  that  driveth  oxen,  and  is 
occupied  in  their  labor;  whose  talk  is  of  bullocks?"  "They 
shall  not  be  sought  for  in  public  counsels  nor  sit  high  in  the 
congregation ;  they  shall  not  sit  in  the  judge's  seat,  nor  under- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  319 

stand  the  sentence  of  judgment ;  they  can  not  declare  justice  and 
judgment,  and  they  shall  not  be  found  where  parables  are 
spoken."*  The  first  Assembly  met  on  the  17th  of  December, 
3792;  and  as  the  representation  had  been  most  injudiciously 
based  on  the  principle  of  population,  thirty-five  out  of  the  fifty 
members  of  the  House  were  French,  and  only  fifteen  English,  a 
minority  too  large  and  respectable  to  be  suffered  to  continue 
longer  than  to  teach  the  majority  the  forms  of  business  ;  and  we 
accordingly  find  that,  at  a  subsequent  period,  it  was  reduced  to 
three. 

The  change  from  absolute  to  constitutional  government  was  so 
great,  that  the  French  were  for  some  time  trammeled  by  parlia- 
mentary forms,  with  which  they  were  wholly  unacquainted,  and 
were  not  at  first  aware  of  the  unlimited  means  of  annoyance,  if 
not  of  control,  with  which  they  were  invested ;  and  therefore  we 
find  them  for  some  time  proceeding  with  decorum  and  moderation. 
But  there  were  not  wanting  those  in  the  colony  who  were  filled 
with  alarm  at  the  sight  of  the  first  Canadian  Assembly,  which, 
even  with  the  largest  minority  ever  known,  contained  a  majority 
of  more  than  twice  as  many  Frenchmen  as  Englishmen,  and  pos- 
sessed the  power  of  increasing  that  majority  at  its  pleasure. 
Even  those  whose  faith  in  the  operation  of  British  institutions  had 
led  them  to  hold  a  different  opinion  as  to  the  result,  were  com- 
pelled to  acknowledge  their  error,  when  they  found  the  House 
proceeding  to  choose  a  Speaker,  who  admitted  his  inability  to  ex- 
press-himself  in  English,  and  recording  their  acts  in  their  own 
language.  They  perceived  with  grief  that  the  natural  tendency 
of  these  things  was  to  give  a  complete  ascendency  to  people  of 
foreign  origin  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  Legislature,  and  to 
encourage  in  the  leaders  at  a  future  day  that  exclusive  ambition 
that  so  soon  distinguished  them.  They  could  not  fail  also  to 
draw  an  unfavorable  contrast  between  this  extraordinary  conces- 
sion, and  the  more  provident  conduct  of  the  American  Congress, 
which,  while  admitting  the  territory  of  Louisiana,  inhabited  by 
Frenchmen,  as  one  of  the  States  of  the  Confederation,  enacted 
that  all  minutes  of  proceedings  in  the  Courts  and  Legislature  of 
their  sister  State,  should  be  exclusively  recorded  in  the  language 
of  the  constituency  of  the  United  States. 

The  leaders  soon  began  to  affect  to  perceive  a  latent  danger 

*  Eccl.  xxxvin.  24,  &c. 


320  THE  ENGLISH  IN  AMERICA. 

in  every  act  of  the  government ;  and  a  bill,  requiring  rectors, 
curates,  and  priests,  to  read  certain  laws  after  divine  service,  was 
denounced  as  opening  a  door  for  exercising  an  influence  over  the 
clergy,  and  an  effort  Avas  made  to  introduce  in  their  stead  the 
captains  of  militia,  which  was  only  relinquished  to  avoid  the 
awkward  admission,  that  too  many  of  those  officers  were  deficient 
in  the  necessary  qualification  to  perform  that  duty.  Having  felt 
their  way  cautiously  for  a  time,  they  commenced  a  system  of 
high-handed  measures  with  every  person  who  obstructed  their 
views,  and  followed  it  up,  by  removing  from  the  House  all  persons 
attached  to  the  Executive,  and  impeaching  others  holding  high 
official  stations,  in  the  hope  that,  by  representing  the  adherents 
of  government  as  enemies  to  the  country,  the  affections  of  the 
people  \Vould  be  gradually  alienated  from  their  rulers,  and 
ultimately  prepare  them  to  join  in  those  measures  of  forcible  re- 
sistance, which  now  for  the  first  time  appear  to  have  been  con- 
templated. To  bring  the  local  government  into  contempt,  it  was 
necessary  to  impugn  the  integrity  of  the  bench,  and  the  impartial 
administration  of  the  law,  and  they  therefore  impeached  the 
judges.  When  the  governor,  whose  liberal  patronage  had  hitherto 
shielded  him  from  attack,  declined  to  suspend  these  functionaries, 
till  the  result  of  their  complaint  should  be  known,  and  refused  to 
make  their  punishment  precede  their  trial,  they  resolved  "  that 
his  Excellency,  the  Governor-in-chief,  by  his  answer  to  the  ad- 
dress of  the  House,  has  violated  the  constitutional  right  and 
privileges  thereof." 

To  personal  persecution  succeeded  financial  disputes,  which  ex- 
tended over  the  whole  period  of  the  administrations  of  the  Duke 
of  Richmond,  Lord  Dalhousie,  and  Sir  James  Kempt,  with  more 
or  less  intensity,  according  to  the  supply  of  fresh  fuel  furnished  by 
irritating  matter  of  extraneous  nature.  Complaints  soon  multi- 
plied upon  complaints ;  public  meetings  were  held ;  violent 
speeches  made  ;  valiant  resolutions  passed  ;  and  finally  delegates 
chosen  to  demand  a  redress  of  grievances  from  the  Imperial  Par- 
liament. When  these  persons  arrived  in  London,  they  found 
public  opinion  with  them.  It  is  the  interest  as  well  as  the  duty 
of  the  English  to  govern  their  colonies  kindly  and  justly,  and  no 
man  but  a  Frenchman  would  affirm  that  their  inclination  requires 
the  incitement  of  either. 

The  Parliamentary  Committee  to  whom  their  complaint  o^as 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  321 

preferred  was  composed  of  persons  by  no  means  indisposed  toward 
the  petitioners,  who,  after  a  patient  and  laborious  investigation  of 
the  subjects  in  dispute,  made  a  report,  which  was  acknowledged 
by  the  Assembly  to  be  both  an  able  and  an  impartial  one,  and 
quite  satisfactory.  It  will  be  unnecessary  to  recapitulate  the 
subjects  referred  to,  or  to  transcribe  the  report,  as  both  go  too 
much  into  detail,  but  nothing  can  exhibit  the  kindness  and  liber- 
ality of  Parliament  more  than  the  latter.  The  manner  in  which* 
the  report  was  received  by  the  dominant  party  in  Canada,  the 
praise  bestowed  upon  its  authors,  and  the  exultation  they  express- 
ed at  their  success,  deceived  the  government  as  to  the  source  of 
these  noisy  demonstrations  of  pleasure.  They  conceived  it  to  be 
the  natural  impulse  of  generous  minds  toward  those  who  had  thus 
kindly  listened  to  their  solicitations,  and  liberally  granted  even 
more  than  they  required.  But  they  knew  not  their  men.  It 
was  the  shout  of  victory  that  they  mistook  for  the  plaudits  of 
loyalty.  It  was  not  designed  to  greet  the  ears  of  benefactors 
with  grateful  acknowledgments,  but  to  wound  the  feelings  of  their 
neighbors  with  the  cheers  of  triumph.  They  devoted  but  little 
time  to  mutual  congratulations.  Sterner  feelings  had  supplied 
the  place  of  rejoicing.  They  set  themselves  busily  at  work  to 
improve  their  advantage;  and  having  established  themselves  in 
the  outworks  which  were  thus  surrendered  to  them,  they  now 
turned  their  attention  to  storming  the  citadel.  While  government 
was  engaged  in  carrying  into  execution  the  recommendations  of 
the  committee,  with  as  much  dispatch  as  the  peculiar  state  of 
politics  in  Great  Britain  at  that  time  permitted,  the  Assembly 
put  themselves  in  a  p*osture  of  complaint  again.  Fourteen  reso- 
lutions were  passed,  embodying  some  of  the  old,  and  embracing 
some  new  grievances,  and  an  agent  appointed  to  advocate  their 
claims. 

While  representations  in  the  name  of  the  whole  population 
were  thus  sent  to  England,  expressing  only  the  sentiments  of 
one  portion  of  the  people,  the  settlers  of  British  origin  were  loud 
in  their  complaints  that  they  were  unrepresented,  and  that  they 
had  no  constitutional  means  of  being  heard.  But  their  remon- 
strances were  disregarded,  and  the  Assembly  occupied  itself  with 
the  consideration  of  their  own  grievances.  That  the  motives  ac- 
tuating the  dominant  party  might  not  be  disclosed,  and  to  pre- 
vent any  member  of  the  opposition  from  being  present  at  their 


322  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

deliberations,  they  adopted  the  extraordinary  mode  of  permitting 
a  person  moving  for  a  committee  to  name  all  the  individuals 
whom  he  desired  to  be  appointed  as  members. 

When  the  fourteen  resolutions  above  referred  to  were  passed, 
the  governor,  Lord  Aylmer,  who  had  recently  arrived,  could  not 
but  feel  astonished  that  the  same  people  who  had  so  lately  ex- 
pressed their  delight  and  satisfaction  at  the  report  of  the  proceed- 
fcgs  of  Parliament,  and  who  knew  that  the  recommendations  of 
the  committee  were  in  a  train  of  execution,  should  again  be  as 
clamorous  as  ever ;  and  very  prudently  and  properly  entreated 
them  to  put  an  end  to  complaints,  by  bringing  forward  at  once 
every  grievance  they  had,  that  it  might  be  met  and  redressed  at 
the  same  time.  The  earnest  manner  in  which  this  was  pressed 
upon  them,  is  worthy  of"  notice.  "  Am  I  to  understand,"  he 
said,  "  that  the  petition  which  I  have  heard,  conveys  all  that 
the  House  of  Assembly  have  to  complain  of  up  to  this  day  ?  Or 
am  I  to  understand  that  there  is  something  behind — some  un 
ripe  grievance  or  complaint,  which  it  may  be  intended  to  bring 
forward  hereafter,  when  those  now  produced  shall  have  been  dis- 
posed of?  This  is  the  information  I  ask  of  ypu.  This,  gentle- 
men is  the  information  which  I  will  even  implore  you  to  afford 
me,  in  the  name  of  the  king  our  sovereign,  who  is  sincerity  it- 
self; and  in  the  name  of  the  brave  and  honest  people  of  Canada, 
who  are  so  well  entitled  to  expect  fair  dealing  in  every  quarter ; 
and  now  if  there  be  any  stray  complaint,  any  grievance,  how- 
ever inconsiderable  in  itself,  which  may  have  been  overlooked 
when  this  petition  was  adopted  by  the  House,  I  beseech  you, 
gentlemen,  to  take  it  back  again,  in  order  that  the  deficiency 
may  be  supplied  ;  and  that  thus  both  king  and  people  may  be 
enabled,  at  one  view,  to  see  the  whole  extent  of  what  you  com- 
plain of,  and  what  you  require." 

The  time  had  now  arrived,  (1832),  when  every  grievance,  so 
far  as  the  remedy  lay  with  government,  had  been  removed,  ac- 
cording to  the  recommendation  of  the  committee.  Whatever 
required  the  co-operation  of  the  Assembly  themselves  remained 
untouched.  They  had  asked  what  they  did  not  require,  and 
hoped  would  not  be  granted,  so  that  the  odium  of  refusal  might 
serve  as  a  pretext  for  further  agitation.  Several  of  the  changes 
solicited  would  have  weakened  their  influence,  and  they  preferred 
to  sufier  things  to  remain  as  they  were.  There  now  existed  no 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  323 

impediment  to  the  public  tranquillity  ;  and  if  their  intentions  had 
been  honest,  we  should  have  heard  no  more  of  Canadian  discon- 
tent. Several  men  of  character  and  standing  in  the  colony,  who 
had  hitherto  acted  with  the  French  faction,  now  separated  them- 
selves from  them,  declaring  that  they  had  obtained  all,  and  even 
more  than  they  had  sought ;  and  that  they  had  now  nothing 
further  to  ask,  but  to  enjoy  in  tranquillity  the  fruits  of  their  labor. 
When  they  found  there  was  no  corresponding  feeling  in  the 
breasts  of  their  colleagues,  and  that  these  concessions  were  mere- 
ly used  as  the  groundwork  of  further  changes,  they  became 
alarmed,  and  for  the  first  time  were  made  sensible  of  what  the 
public  had  always  known  with  unfeigned  sorrow,  that  they  had 
all  along  been  the  dupes  of  their  own  liberal  notions,  and  the 
artifices  of  others.  But  what  was  the  astonishment  of  Lord 
.Aylmer,  after  their  declining  the  unprecedented  request  to 
exhibit  any  further  complaint,  if  they  had  any,  to  find  that 
in  1834  they  were  prepared  to  come  forward  with  ninety-two 
resolutions  of  fresh  grievances  !  This  extraordinary  step  revived 
the  hopes  of  every  loyalist  throughout  the  colonies.  Surely, 
they  said,  this  last  ungrateful,  unprovoked  attempt,  will  open 
the  eyes  of  the  English  nation  to  the  ulterior  views  of  the 
French. 

This  singular  document  is  well  worthy  of  perusal.  The 
astonishing  number  of  ninety-two  resolutions  was  well  calculated 
to  delude  strangers,  and  to  induce  them  to  think  that  the  evils 
under  which  they  labored  were  almost  too  many  for  enumeration. 
But  it  must  not  be  supposed,  that  even  Canadian  exaggeration 
could  find  a  grievance  for  each  number.  Some  were  simply  de- 
clamatory, and  others  personal.  Some  complimented  persons  on 
the  other  side  of  the  water,  whose  politics  they  thought  resembled 
their  own,  and  others  expressed  or  implied  a  censure  against 
those  who  were  obnoxious  to  them,  while  not  a  few  were  mere 
repetitions  of  what  had  been  previously  said.  Such  a  state 
paper,  drawn  up  on  such  an  occasion,  by  the  most  eminent  men 
in  the  House  for  the  perusal  of  the  members  of  the  Imperial  Par- 
liament, is  of  itself  a  proof  how  little  fitted  the  Canadians  were 
for  constitutional  government. 

These  resolutions,  and  the  memorial  accompanying  them, 
were  referred  to  a  committee  composed  like  the  last,  chiefly  of 
liberal  members,  and  containing  several  whose  opinions  were 


324  THE    EXGMSH    IN    AMERICA. 

well  known  to  be  favorable  to  their  cause,  but  after  a  careful 
hearing  of  all  the  delegates  could  say,  the  committee  reported  as 
follows  : 

"  That  the  most  earnest  anxiety  had  existed  on  the  part  of 
the  Home  Government  to  carry  into  effect  the  suggestions  of  the 
committee  of  1838;  and  that  the  endeavors  of  the  government 
to  that  end  had  been  unremitting,  and  guided  by  a  desire,  in  all 
cases,  to  promote  the  interest  of  the  colony  ;  and  that  in  several 
important  particulars  their  endeavors  had  been  completely  suc- 
cessful." 

Shortly  afterward  the  whole  of  the  proceedings  of  the  govern- 
ment since  the  year  1828  were  detailed  in  a  very  lucid  and  able 
statement  of  Lord  Aberdeen,  in  which  he  claims  for  himself  and 
his  colleagues  the  credit  of  a  full  and  faithful  compliance  with 
the  recommendations  of  the  Canada  committee,  as  far  as  the 
powers  of  the  executive  permitted  them  to  do  so.  To  this  able 
state  paper  the  reader  is  referred,  if  he  desires  to  pursue  the  sub- 
ject into  detail. 

The  perusal  of  this  important  document  naturally  suggests  two 
reflections ;  first,  that  the  faithful  execution  of  the  recommendations 
of  the  committee  is  much  more  entitled  to  our  approbation  than 
the  report  itself;  secondly,  that  nothing  short  of  independence 
would  have  satisfied  the  Canadian  Assembly. 

As  the  memorials  addressed  to  government  by  the  English  and 
French  parties,  were  at  variance  in  every  material  point,  a  com- 
mission of  inquiry,  of  which  Lord  Gosford,  the  governor,  was 
head,  was  sent  out  to  Canada  in  1835.  Whether  the  commis- 
sion was  necessary  or  not,  it  is  not  needful  for  me  to  say,  but  it  is 
illustrative  of  the  earnest  desire  that  existed  to  compose  these  un- 
fortunate difficulties,  and  ascertain  on  the  spot,  how  much  of  con- 
cession could  be  made  consistently  with  retaining  the  sovereignty 
of  the  country.  The  commissioners  were  told  :  "  You  will  ever 
bear  in  mind  that  you  are' sent  on  a  mission  of  peace  and  concili- 
ation. You  will,  therefore,  proceed  in  a  spirit  not  of  distrust  but 
of  confidence  ;  remembering  that  much  of  your  success  will  de- 
pend, not  only  on  the  ability  and  fairness  of  your  inquiries,  but 
also  on  your  perfect  separation  from  all  local  and  party  disputes, 
and  on  the  unquestionable  frankness  and  impartiality  of  your  gen- 
eral conduct." 

The   governor   was   told  by  Lord   Glenelg,   "  your  lordship, 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  325 

therefore,  proceeds  to  Canada  to  advocate  no  British  interest  and 
to  secure  no  selfish  ends.  To  maintain  the  peace  and  integrity 
of  the  empire,  and  to  mediate  between  contending  parties,  by 
whom  these  blessings  have  been  endangered,  is  the  high  and 
honorable  trust  confided  to  you." 

The  arrival  of  this  Board  put  an  end  to  all  further  prospect  of 
grievance,  and  at  once  damped  the  hopes  and  awakened  the  anger 
of  the  disaffected.  The  very  act  of  investigating  the  complaints 
which  they  themselves  had  preferred  was  made  a  subject  of  in- 
vective, and  the  commission  was  denounced  as  an  insult  to  the 
Assembly,  whose  voice  alone  should  be  heard,  and  whose  decision 
admitted  not  of  question  by  the  Government  or  the  Council. 
Knowing  that  the  instructions  given  to  the  commissioners  were 
of  a  most  conciliatory  nature,  that  every  change  that  they  had 
desired  would  be  effected,  and  that,  by  their  own  showing,  they 
would  be  compelled  to  be  tranquil,  they  promptly  changed  their 
ground,  abandoned  their  untenable  local  topics,  and  boldly  attack- 
ed the  Constitution. 

The  mask  was  now  thrown  off,  and  republicanism  openly 
avowed  as  their  object.  That  this  development  was  premature- 
ly hastened  by  the  unexpected  and  immediate  concession  of  their 
requests,  and  their  object  disclosed  sooner  than  they  expected,  is 
evident.  "  The  people  of  this  country  are  now  preparing  thern- 
eelves  for  a  future  state  of  political  existence,"  said  Mr.  Papineau, 
"  which,  he  trusted,  would  be  neither  a  monarchy  nor  an  aris- 
tocracy. He  hoped  Providence  had  not  in  view  for  his  country  a 
future  so  dark  as  that  it  should  be  the  means  of  planting  royalty 
in  America,  near  a  country  so  grand  as  the  United  States.  He 
hoped,  for  the  future,  America  would  give  republics  to  Europe." 
"  Let  them  consider,"  says  another  of  their  party,  "  these  words 
of  a  great  writer,  and  they  will  no  longer  treat  a  revolution  and 
a  separation  as  a  chimera.  The  greatest  misfortune  for  man, 
politically,"  says  he,  "is  to  obey  a  foreign  power ;  no  humiliation, 
no  torment  of  the  heart  is  equal  to  this.  The  subjected  nation, 
at  least,  if  she  be  not  protected  by  some  extraordinary  law,  ought 
not  to  obey  their  sovereign !  We  repeat  it,  an  immediate  separ- 
ation from  England  is  the  only  means  of  preserving  our  national- 
ity. Some  time  hence,  when  emigration  shall  have  made  our 
enemies  our  equals  in  number,  more  daring  and  less  generous,  they 
will  deprive  us  of  our  liberties,  and  we  shall  have  the  same  fate 


326  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

as  our  countrymen,  the  Acadians.  Believe  me,  this  is  the  fate 
reserved  for  us,  if  we  do  not  make  ourselves  independent."  Al- 
though they  considered  every  institution  and  usage  of  their  own 
so  sacred  as  to  admit  of  no  change,  they  viewed  those  of  the 
English  in  a  very  different  light.  The  conceding  and  respectful 
conduct  of  government  formed  an  amusing  contrast  with  their 
audacious  insolence.  To  mark  their  contempt  for  legal  rights, 
they  passed  an  act  to  make  notice  of  action:  served  on  the  Attor- 
ney-general, for  damages  against  the  Crown,  legal  and  binding. 
If  the  suit  went  against  the  Crown,  it  was  provided  that  execu- 
tion might  issue  against  the  governor  and  his  furniture,  or  the 
guns  of  the  fortress. 

Things  were  now  rapidly  drawing  to  a  crisis.  The  Legisla- 
ture was  assembled  by  the  new  governor,  and  addressed  by  him 
in  a  long  and  conciliatory  speech,  in  which  the  evils  of  internal 
dissensions  were  pointedly  and  feelingly  alluded  to,  and  concessions 
made,  sufficiently  numerous  to  have  gratified  the  vanity  and 
appeased  the  irritation  of  any  other  people  than  those  to  whom  it 
was  addressed. 

They  were  then  called  upon,  in  the  usual  manner,  to  provide 
for  the  support  of  the  judges  and  officers  of  government,  the  public 
chest  containing  at  the  time  .£130,000  sterling. 

The  House  had  no  sooner  retired  from  hearing  this  address, 
than  their  Speaker  adopted  his  usual  mode  of  inflaming  his  party 
by  the  most  violent  invectives  against  all  the  authorities,  both  at 
home  and  in  the  colony,  charging  the  one  with  deceit  and  hypoc- 
risy in  their  words,  and  the  other  with  oppression  and  peculation 
in.  their  deeds.  In  a  short  time  he  brought  matters  to  the  con- 
clusion he  had  so  long  desired. 

The  House  voted  an  address  to  his  Majesty,  in  which  they  an- 
nounced that  they  had  determined  to  refuse  any  future  provision 
for  the  wants  of  the  local  administration,  in  order  the  better  to 
insist  upon  the  changes  which  they  required  from  the  imperial 
authorities.  Their  utmost  concession  (and  they  desired  it  might 
not  be  taken  for  a  precedent)  was  to  offer  a  supply  for  six  months, 
that  time  being  allowed  to  his  Majesty's  Government  and  the 
British  Parliament  to  decide  upon  the  fundamental  alterations  of 
the  Constitution  and  other  important  measures  included  in  the 
demands  of  the  Assembly. 

Tn  this  bill  of  supply,  which  was  for  six  months  only,  and  mere- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  327 

ly  passed  for  the  purpose  of  throwing  the  odium  of  rejection  on 
the  other  branch  of  the  Legislature,  they  excluded  the  salaries 
of  the  councilors ;  of  their  assistant  clerk,  one  of  the  judges,  some 
usual  incidental  charges  of  the  civil  secretary's  office,  besides 
other  important  salaries  ;  and,  as  they  hoped,  it  was  not  concurred 
in.  This  was  the  first  time  they  had  left  their  executive  without 
the  means  of  conducting  the  government,  for  the  sole  and  avowed 
purpose  of  procuring  changes  in  the  Constitution,  although  the 
result  had  been  arrived  at  by  other  means  on  different  occasions. 
Of  the  confusion  and  distress  which  this  repeated  refusal  of  the 
Assembly  to  co-operate  with  the  other  branches  of  the  Legislature 
produced  in  the  province,  it  is  difficult  to  convey  any  adequate 
idea. 

At  length  four  years  had  elapsed  since  there  had  been  any 
appropriation  of  provincial  funds  to  the  use  of  government.  The 
distress  and  embarrassment  which  this  state  of  circumstances  in- 
flicted on  the  functionaries  of  the  province,  whose  private  resources 
are  generally  very  limited,  were  as  humiliating  as  they  were  un- 
merited. Many  were  living  on  money  borrowed  at  an  exorbitant 
interest ;  some  could  not  but  be  reduced  to  the  verge  of  ruin  ; 
and,  to  show  that  this  suffering  of  individuals  was  not  unattended 
with  danger  to  the  general  welfare,  it  may  be  enough  to  remark, 
without  painfully  dwelling  on  private  circumstances,  that  the 
judges  of  the  country  were  among  those  who  were  left  to  provide 
for  their  subsistence  as  best  they  might,  after  three  years'  stop- 
page of  their  official  incomes. 

No  complaint  was  made  against  the  existing  administration, 
nor  was  it  asserted  that  any  demerit  in  the  parties  caused  them 
to  be  deprived  of  their  lawful  remuneration.  No  local  cause  of 
quarrel  was  alleged,  of  which  the  settlement  might  be  indispens- 
able before  the  public  business  could  be  proceeded  with ;  on  the 
contrary,  it  was  stated  openly,  and  without  disguise,  that  changes 
of  a  political  nature  were  the  end  in  view,  and  that  until  certain 
acts  should  be  done,  competent  to  no  other  authority  than  the 
Imperial  Parliament,  and  comprising  organic  changes  in  the  Con- 
stitution, by  virtue  of  which  the  Assembly  itself  existed,  the  House 
would  never  make  another  pecuniary  grant  to  the  government. 
Thus  the  public  servants,  no  parties  to  the  contest,  were  afflicted 
merely  as  instruments,  through  whose  sufferings  to  extort  conces 
sions  totally  independent  of  their  will  to  grant  or  to  refuse. 


328  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

Such,  however,  were  the  means  through  which  they  hoped  to 
effect  their  object ;  and  they  further  declared,  that  they  would 
pay  no  arrears,  or  vote  any  civil  list,  until  their  demands  should 
be  complied  with.  Here  the  government  also  made  a  stand, 
and  very  properly  said  "  We  shall  concede  no  further.  Your 
demands  involve  a  surrender  of  the  colony  to  one  party  within 
it ;  and  we  are  not  justified  in  granting  them,  consistently 
with  the  duty  we  owe  to  the  Crown,  to  the  public,  or  to  colonists 
of  British  origin."  Every  governor  had  lately  shown  a  desire  to 
win  the  honor  of  pacifying  Canada ;  had  receded  and  conceded  ; 
offered  conciliation  and  endured  affronts;  borne  and  forborne,  in 
a  manner  that  it  is  quite  humiliating  to  contemplate.  Each 
succeeding  one  had  used  his  influence  in  the  legislative  council  to 
aid  in  the  execution  of  instructions  which,  although  they  are  just- 
ly entitled  to  the  merit  of  kind  intentions,  have  not  so  much 
claim  on  our  admiration  on  the  score  of  their  merit  or  their  dig- 
nity. 

As  the  Assembly  had  separated  with  a  declaration  that  they 
would  never  vote  a  civil  list  until  all  their  requests  were  granted, 
it  was  necessary  for  Parliament  to  interfere  ;  and  Lord  John 
Russell  proposed  and  carried  six  resolutions,  the  most  important 
of  which  wras  the  following : 

"  Sthly.  That  for  defraying  the  arrears  due,  on  account  of  the 
established  and  customary  charges  of  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice, and  of  the  civil  government  of  the  province,  it  is  expedient 
that,  after  applying  for  that  purpose  such  balance  as  should,  on 
the  10th  day  of  April  last,  be  in  the  the  hands  of  the  Receiver- 
general,  arising  from  the  hereditary,  territorial,  and  casual  reve- 
nues of  the  Crown,  the  governor  of  the  province  be  empowered 
to  issue,  out  of  any  other  moneys  in  the  hands  of  the  Receiver- 
general,  such  further  sums  as  shall  be  necessary  to  effect  the  pay- 
snent  of  such  arrears  and  charges  up  to  the  1  Oth  of  April  last." 

Whether  the  spirit  of  concession  had  not  been  heretofore  car- 
ried too  far,  and  whether  the  public  affairs  of  Canada  ought  to 
have  been  suffered  (even  for  the  amiable  and  praiseworthy  object 
of  endeavoring  to  satisfy,  if  possible,  the  dominant  party  in  the 
House)  to  have  arrived  at  this  crisis,  are  questions  upon  which  I 
have  no  desire  upon  this  occasion  to  enter. 

But  that  these  resolutions  were  indispensable,  that  they  were 
not  resorted  to  until  they  were  necessary,  and  that  Parliament 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA  329 

was  justified  in  the  exercise  of  its  supreme  authority,  no  unpreju- 
diced arid  right-thinking  man  can  doubt.  A  colony  is  a  depend- 
ent country,  while  Great  Britain  is  a  supreme  metropolitan 
state.  The  controlling  power  must  obviously  be  greater  than 
the  power  controlled.  The  jurisdiction,  therefore,  of  a  colony  be- 
ing limited,  if  it  pass  those  limits,  it  is  no  longer  subordinate,  but 
independent.  It  is  not  only  the  right,  but  the  duty  of  Parliament 
to  restrain  within  their  constitutional  limits  local  legislatures,  in 
the  same  manner  as  it  is  the  right  of  colonists  to  exercise  those 
powers,  and  their  duty  not  to  attempt  to  exceed  them.  Mr.  Pa- 
pineau  had  observed,  "  the  Constitution  has  ceased  to  exist  of 
right,  and,  in  fact,  can  no  longer  be  maintained  but  by  force." 
Here  then  was  a  clear  case  for  the  legislative  interference  of  Par- 
liament. To  such  an  interposition  no  reflecting  colonist  will  ever 
object,  else  there  would  be  no  appeal  but  the  sword,  whenevei 
a  designing  demagogue  should  unfortunately  obtain  a  majority 
of  obstructive  members  in  the  Assembly.  Yet  these  resolutions 
were  said  to  be  a  violation  of  the  declaratory  Act  of  1778,  and 
an  unconstitutional  mode  of  levying  taxes  on  the  Canadians,  and 
appropriating  their  money  without  their  consent. 

But  although  the  right  of  Parliament  to  interfere,  and  its  in- 
tention to  do  so,  were  thus  asserted,  there  was  still  so  strong  a 
repugnance  felt  by  government  to  exercise  the  power,  that  they 
desired  Lord  Gosford  to  call  together  the  Assembly  again,  and 
give  those  misguided  men  another  opportunity  of  reconsidering 
their  conduct.  They  met  as  summoned,  but  again  refused  all 
supplies,  which  had  now  been  withheld  for  five  years,  and  de- 
clined to  exercise  any  legislative  function.  There  was  now  no 
power  to  make  new  laws,  no  means  of  paying  those  who  admin- 
istered the  existing  ones,  no  appropriation  for  the  public  service 
in  any  department.  Schools  were  neglected,  roads  unrepaired, 
bridges  dilapidated,  jails  unprovided  for,  temporary  laws  expired 
and  expiring,  and  confusion  and  disorganization  every  where. 

Disaffection  having  now  succeeded  in  producing  anarchy,  as- 
sumed the  shape  of  insurrection,  the  natural  result  of  so  many 
years  of  agitation.  The  tragical  events  of  this  sad  revolt  are  too 
recent  and  too  impressive  to  be  forgotten,  and  the  recital  would 
be  as  painful  as  it  is  unnecessary. 

Before  I  leave  this  subject  of  the  rebellion,  however,  I  must 
allude  to  the  mitigating  circumstances  ^iat  attended  it.  Excited 


330  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

by  every  stimulant  that  parliamentary  declamation  could  apply, 
or  British  sympathy  suggest,  or  American  republicanism  offer,  en- 
couraged at  home,  aided  from  abroad,  and  nowhere  opposed  or 
controlled,  is  it  to  be  wondered  at,  that  the  prospect  of  plunder 
and  impunity,  seduced  these  deluded  people  from  their  allegiance, 
or  that  the  contagion  should  spread  from  Lower  to  Upper  Cana- 
da ?  When  such  a  man  as  Hume,  known  to  be  a  supporter  of 
the  government,  said  to  Mackenzie,  "  Your  triumphant  election 
on  the  16th,  and  ejection  from  the  Assembly  on  the  17th,  must 
hasten  that  crisis  which  is  fast  approaching  in  the  affairs  of  the 
Canadas,  and  which  will  terminate  in  freedom  and  independence 
from  the  baneful  domination  of  the  mother  country,  and  the 
tyrannical  conduct  of  a  small  and  despicable  faction  in  the 

colony The  proceedings  between  1772  and  1782  in 

America,  ought  not  to  be  forgotten,  and  to  the  honor  of  the 
Americans,  and  for  the  interest  of  the  civilized  world,  let  their 
conduct  and  its  result  be  ever  in  view  ;"  and  again,  "  one  re- 
source, and  one  resource  alone,  remains :  to  be  a  free  people,  you 
must  resist  the  British  government ;"  to  whom  does  the  greater 
share  of  guilt  attach,  to  the  seducer  or  the  victim  \ 

This  rebellion  had  scarcely  been  put  down,  when  Lord  Dur- 
ham was  appointed  with  extraordinary  powers  to  complete  the 
pacification. 

On  this  part  of  the  history  of  Canada,  it  is  needless  to  dwell. 
It  has  proved  a  failure,  not  from  a  deficiency  of  power,  but  from 
want  of  conduct,  in  the  dictator.  Instead  of  assembling  around 
him  a  council  of  the  most  influential  and  best  informed  men  in 
the  colony,  according  to  the  evident  spirit  of  the  act,  and  his  in- 
structions, he  thought  proper  to  appoint  to  that  responsible  situa: 
tion,  officers  attached  to  his  household,  or  perfect  strangers,  with 
the  magnanimous  view,  as  he  said,  of  assuming  the  whole  responsi- 
bility of  his  own  measures.  But  alas  !  that  which  is  a  mere  mistake 
in  a  statesman,  is  often  an  irretrievable  misfortune  to  a  whole  people. 

I  have  now  shown  that  after  the  conquest  of  Canada,  it  was 
governed  by  English  laws ;  that  the  royal  proclamation  invited 
British  subjects  to  remove  ther"e  ;  and  promised  them  the  protec- 
tion and  enjoyment  of  those  laws ;  but  that,  in  violation  of  that 
promise,  in  order  to  conciliate  the  French,  their  legal  code  was 
substituted  in  their  place;  while  an  injudicious  division  of  the 
province  was  made,  in  c^isequence  of  which  it  became  a  Gallic 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  331 

and  not  a  British  colony.  We  have  seen  that  by  these  means, 
and  by  permitting  the  recording  language  of  their  Parliament  to 
be  French,  they  were  kept  a  distinct  people,  and  that  they  al- 
ways had  an  overwhelming*majority  of  members  of  their  own 
origin  in  the  Legislature,  who  were  distinguished  by  an  anti-com- 
mercial and  anti-British  feeling,  which  had  been  gradually  grow- 
ing with  the  growth  of  the  country  until  they  were  in  a  condition 
to  dictate  terms  to  government.  If  this  part  of  the  review  could 
be  followed  into  detail,  it  would  be  found  that  this  feeling  was 
manifested  by  the  manner  in  which  they  have  constantly  resisted 
local  assessments,  and  made  commerce  bear  every  provincial  ex- 
penditure— in  the  way  they  neutralized  the  electoral  privileges  -of 
the  voters  of  British  origin — in  the  continuance  of  the  oppressive 
tenure  of  the  feudal  law — in  taxing  emigrants  from  the  mother 
country,  and  them  only — in  their  attempts  to  wrest  the  crown- 
land  from  Government — in  their  attack  on  the  Canada  Company, 
and  the  introduction  of  settlers  by  them — in  their  opposition  to  a 
system  of  registry — in  their  mode  of  temporary  legislation — in 
their  refusal  to  vote  supplies,  and  in  the  whole  tenor  of  their 
debates  and  votes.  It  will  be  also  found  that  the  policy  of  every 
government,  whether  Tory  or  Whig,  was  conciliatory,  and  every 
reasonable  change  required  (with  many  very  unreasonable  ones) 
was  conceded  to  them  ;  and  strange  as  it  may  appear,  it  is  never- 
theless an  undeniable  fact,  that  the  only  party  who  had  reason  to 
complain,  were  the  injured  and  traduced  loyalists. 

Lord  Durham  introduced  into  Canada  what  is  called  "respons- 
ible government."  It  is  not  probable  that  he  had  any  very 
definite  idea  of  the  meaning  of  that  term  himself,  for  he  subse 
quently  disavowed  the  interpretation  put  upon  it  by  the  Canadian 
^politicians.  His  object,  however,  seems  to  have  been  to  leave 
the  management,  as  far  as  possible,  to  themselves,  by  abandoning 
the  royal  prerogative,  and  loosing  tbe  bonds  of  parliamentary 
control.  He  assented  to  their  governing  by  a  majority,  which 
should  furnish  a  Ministry  similar  to  that  in  England,  but  the 
Act  of  Reunion  of  the  provinces  was  so  constructed,  that  the  old 
Liberals,  or  democratic  party,  still  continued  in  the  ascendant. 
So'  far  from  acquiring  reputation  as  a  statesman  for  what  he  had 
clone,  he  has  been  justly  censured  for  doing  nothing,  or,  what  was 
worse,  for  assenting  to  demands  that  were  inadmissible.  It  was 
not  an  evidence  of  skill,  but  an  act  of  despair.  From  conduct  it 


332  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

is  not  difficult  to  infer  motives.  If  he  had  given  utterance  to  his 
thoughts,  he  would  probably  thus  have  expressed  himself:  "  You 
do  not  seem  to  be  satisfied  with  English  domination,  which  you 
have  been  instructed  by  a  member  *of  the  Imperial  Parliament  to 
consider  baneful ;  now  govern  yourselves,  if  it  will  gratify  you  to 
imitate  independent  states.  You  shall  have  responsible  govern- 
ment, a  little  administration  of  your  own,  and  you  may  render 
yourselves  as  absurd  as  you  please,  by  assuming  in  your  youth  the 
armor  of  manhood,  which  if  too  large  and  disproportioned  for  you 
now,  will,  if  it  does  not  wear  out,  fit  you  better  hereafter,  when 
your  limbs  shall  have  attained  their  full  proportion."  Nothing 
could  better  suit  the  views  of  the  democrats  than  this ;  but  it 
filled  the  sober-minded  and  reflecting  part  of  the  community,  that 
portion  that  embraces  the  learning,  property,  and  loyalty  of  the 
country,  with  alarm.  They  saw  in  this  hasty  and  petulant  con- 
cession, that  no  one  security  had  been  devised  for  the  protection 
of  a  minority.  But  the  will  of  the  dictator  became  law,  and 
like  good  subjects  they  submitted  to  it,  and  endeavored  to  accom- 
modate themselves  to  the  experiment  with  the  best  grace  they 
could  assume. 

The  common  operation  of  altering  a  dwelling-house  requires 
great  care ;  every  change  begets  another,  as  new  difficulties  are 
constantly  arising  in  its  progress,  which  were  either  not  foreseen, 
or  not  sufficiently  provided  against ;  and  at  last  it  is  not  unfre- 
quently  found  that  it  would  have  been  better  not  to  have  under- 
taken the  enlargement  at  all,  or  to  have  pulled  down  the  edifice 
and  reconstructed  it.  Something  very  similar  has  occurred  in 
the  political  edifice  of  the  colonial  constitution  of  Canada.  The 
predictions  of  practical  men  have  been  singularly  verified,  and 
the  following  glaring  faults  are  now  distinctly  visible  :  1st.  The 
governor  has  been  rendered  powerless.  He  is  stript  of  all  his 
patronage,  which  has  been  transferred  to  the  leader  of  the  Assem- 
bly, who,  from  the  almost  universal  suffrage  that  exists  in  the 
country,  is  in  his  turn  the  mere  mouthpiece  of  the  democracy. 
The  veto  of  the  queen's  representative,  as  a  constitutional  branch 
of  the  Legislature,  is  in  like  manner  a  mere  nominal  right,  exist- 
ing in  theory  alone,  but  having  no  practical  operation.  To  dis- 
solve a  House,  where  there  is  a  dominant  party  in  the  country, 
would  be  to  surround  himself  with  a  similar  but  more  violent 
Council,  and  make  his  dependence  more  palpable  and  more  humil- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  333 

iating.  If  he  assents  to  measures  of  a  beneficial  nature,  the 
credit  is  given  to  those  who  prepare  and  carry  them ;  if  to  ob- 
noxious ones,  he  is  held  responsible  ;  for  people  are  ever  unreason- 
able, and  expect  the  exercise  of  a  power  that  no  longer  exists.* 

The  last  governor,  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word,  was  the 
late  lamented  Lord  Metcalf.  He  struggled  hard  to  maintain  his 
rights,  and  uphold  the  weight  and  authority  that  ought  to  per- 
tain to  his  station,  and  exhibited  qualities  of  no  ordinary  nature 
in  the  unequal  contest.  It  was  not  his  fault  that  the  post  as- 
signed to  him  to  defend  was  commanded  by  heights  in  possession 
of  demagogues.  He  did  all  that  skill,  courage,  and  perseverance 
could  do,  and  having  made  a  gallant  defense,  effected  an  honor- 
able retreat  from  the  country.  The  task  of  his  successors,  if  not 
so  creditable,  is  at  least  more  safe.  Nothing  is  now  expected 
from  the  queen's  representative  but  to  keep  a  good  table,  and 
affix  his  name  to  such  documents  as  are  prepared  for  his  signa- 
ture. The  first  of  these  duties  is  unnecessary,  and  as  regards 
the  last  an  official  stamp  (V.  R.)  would  answer  the  purpose  as 
effectually,  and  make  a  saving  that  would  gladden  the  hearts  of 
the  polished  financiers,  manufactured  at  Manchester  and  Bir- 
mingham. 

2dly. — The  Council,  or  Upper  House,  is  destroyed.  This 
body  was  formerly  filled  upon  the  recommendation  of  the  gov- 
ernor, by  the  Crown ;  the  selection  was  rnade  from  the  most  in- 
telligent, influential,  and  opulent  people  in  the  province,  and  was 
as  nearly  analogous  to  the  House  of  Lords  as  the  different  cir- 
cumstances of  the  country  would  permit.  The  only  valid  objec- 
tion ever  made  to  its  composition  was,  that  in  general  too  many 
heads  of  departments  were  assembled  in  it ;  an  evil  of  no  very 
great  magnitude  in  itself,  but  one  that  was  susceptible  of  an  easy 
remedy.  It  was  an  independent,  and  by  far  the  most  respectable 
legislative  branch.  It  was  a  valuable  safeguard  to  the  crown, 
and  a  great  protection  to  a  minority  when  assailed  by  a  thought- 
less or  unprincipled  majority.  It  was  a  monarchical  institution  ; 
and  from  its  character  and  station,  nurtured  a  class  of  public 
men,  ambitious  of  the  honor  of  a  seat  at  its  board,  whose  very 
virtues  disqualified  them  from  having  the  suffrage  of  a  population 

*  This  was  lately  exemplified  in  the  case  of  Lord  Elgin,  who  was  assailed 
by  a  mob  for  assenting  to  a  bill  for  indemnifying  traitors  for  their  losses,  when 
in  fact  he  was  merely  obeying  his  masters,  the  little  Canadian  cabinet. 


334  THE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

that  brooked  no  superior.  The  right  of  selection  also  gave  great 
weight  and  influence  to  a  governor.  It  formed  an  admirable 
balance  of  power,  by  maintaining  and  defending  the  rights  of 
property,  the  permanency  of  chartered  institutions,  and  the  in- 
violability of  public  faith.  Vacancies  are  still  nominally  filled 
from  England  at  the  recommendation  of  the  governor  ;  but,  alas ! 
with  this  material  change — at  the  bidding  of  his  minister.  It 
was  deemed  necessary,  to  use  the  specious  but  deceptive  language 
of  the  day,  to  make  it  harmonize  with  the  Lower  House,  which 
meant  to  strip  it  of  all  independent  action,  and  make  it  echo  the 
orders  of  its  masters.  It  is  now  a  mere  duplicate  of  the  Assembly. 
Weight,  character,  and  intelligence  are  not  requisite  ;  obedience 
is  the  one  thing  needful.  The  Governor  and  the  Council  exist  but 
in  name ;  but  in  proportion  as  the  Assembly  has  absorbed  their 
power  and  authority,  has  its  strength  increased,  until  it  is  irresisti- 
ble. 

The  statesmen  of  the  American  Revolution,  who  were  republi- 
cans and  not  democrats,  had  both  the  virtue  and  the  good  sense 
to  sacrifice  or  restrain  their  personal  ambition  for  the  good  of  their 
common  country.  "  All  the  powers  of  government,"  says  Mr. 
Jefferson,  "  legislative,  executive,  and  judiciary,  result  to  the 
legislative  body.  The  concentration  of  these  in  the  same  hands 
is  precisely  the  definition  of  a  despotic  government.  It  will  be 
no  alleviation,  that  these  powers  will  be  exercised  by  a  plurality 
of  hands,  and  not  b^lt  single  one.  One  hundred  and  seventy- 
three  despots  would  surely  be  as  oppressive  as  one.  Let  those 
who  doubt  it  turn  their  eyes  to  the  republic  of  Venice.  An 
elective  despotism  is  not  the  government  we  fought  for  ;  but  one 
which  should  not  only  be  founded  on  free  principles,  but  in  which 
the  powers  of  government  should  be  so  divided  and  balanced 
among  several  bodies  of  magistracy,  as  that  no  one  could  transcend 
their  legal  limits  without  being  effectually  checked  and  restrained 
by  the  others." 

3d.  In  former  times  the  laws  passed  by  the  local  legislature 
were  always  submitted  to  a  searching  examination  in  England, 
before  they  received  the  royal  sanction  ;  and  such  was  the  reliance 
.  of  the  public  upon  the  ability,  industry,  and  fidelity  of  those  per- 
sons to  whom  this  task  was  committed,  that  their  decision  was 
almost  always  satisfactory.  Indeed,  the  honor  and  good  faith  of 
England  was  an  axiom  that  lay  at  the  foundation  of  every  argu- 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  335 

ment.  Its  wisdom  or  its  prudence  might  be  questioned,  its  in- 
tegrity never.  However  strong  local  prejudice  might  be,  or  how- 
ever the  judgment  of  the  legislature,  or  the  ability  of  the  provin- 
cial courts  might  be  doubted,  every  right-minded  person  considered 
this  surveillance  as  his  greatest  security.  England  was  regarded 
as  the  fountain  of  justice,  as  it  had  ever  been  of  considerate  kind- 
ness and  unbounded  liberality.  It  was  in  truth  and  in  fact  a 
paternal  authority,  postponing  or  sacrificing  its  own  convenience 
and  undoubted  rights,  to  the  wishes,  the  feelings,  and  the  happi- 
ness of  her  children.  The  ingratitude  or  insolence  that  questioned 
this  notorious  benevolence,  is  only  equaled  by  the  utter  want  of 
principle  in  the  London  revolutionary  press,  that  gave  currency 
to  the  accusation  ;  and  the  credulity  or  wickedness  of  the  Radical 
leaders,  who  affected  to  believe  it,  to  damage  the  iTories,  who, 
whatever  may  have  been  their  defects,  were  a  true-hearted  British 
party.  They  may  have  been  profuse  of  the  public  money,  but 
they  lived  in  the  days  of  extravagance  ;  they  may  have  been  ob- 
stinate, for  principle  is  worthy  of  a  stout  defense,  and  they  may, 
like  their  successors,  have  conferred  honors  on  their  own  country- 
men, in  utter  forgetfulness  of  colonists ;  but  they  were  English- 
men, and  had  no  greater  share  of  national  vanity  than  is  common 
in  the  people  of  Great  Britain.  But  whatever  they  were,  they 
were  honest.  They  preferred  experience  to  experiment,  and  were 
not  willing  to  peril  their  country  or  barter  their  rights  for  popu- 
larity. This  surveillance  is  now  merely^iominal ; 'the  form  is 
preserved,  but  the  substance  is  gone  forever.  When  an  appeal  is 
made,  the  answer  is  uniform  :  "  You  have  responsible  government, 
we  can  not  interfere.  It  is  a  local  matter ;  you  must  settle  it 
yourselves." 

This  great  constitutional  check,  therefore,  is  gone.  The  guar- 
antee of  England,  that  no  local  injustice  shall  be  done  no  longer 
exists,  and  Canada  is  ruled  by  the  Assembly.  The  governor 
there  is  not  a  person  but  a  name,  having  as  little  meaning,  force, 
or  power  as  his  title  of  "Excellency."  The  Upper  House  is  a 
section  of  the  Lower,  from  whence  it  derives  its  being,  and  to 
which  it  owes  obedience.  If  this  be  not  voluntarily  given,  it  can 
be  coerced  into  submission.  The  restraint  imposed  by  the  kind, 
wise,  and  paternal  superintendence  of  England  is  withdrawn ; 
and  instead  of  a  colonial  government  belonging  to  a  monarchy, 
based  on  principles  of  internal  freedom  and  external  dependence, 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

there  is  an  unchecked  and  unmitigated  democracy,  that  could  not 
fail  to  excite  the  admiration  of  a  chartist  or  a  hero  of  the  barri- 
cades. That  such  a  state  of  things  was  never  contemplated  by 
those  who  introduced  responsible  government,  it  is  but  common 
justice  to  them  to  suppose,  but  the  navigation  of  an  unknown  sea 
is  always  attended  with  danger,  and  the  ship  of  state  is  now 
environed  on  every  side  with  sunken  rocks,  that  are  but  ill-con- 
cealed from  view,  even  in  the  calmer  weather.  The  self-elected 
reformers  of  the  trading  towns  of  England  and  Scotland,  with 
that  spirit  of  speculation  that  peculiarly  belongs  to  the  owners  of 
vessels,  are  loud  in  their  demands  to  abandon  her  for  a  total  loss, 
but  honest  men  must  lighten  her  of  her  load  of  democracy,  repair 
her,  and  having  once  more  got  her  into  deep  water,  navigate  her 
with  caution*  vigilance. 

It  is  clear  that  one  of  two  things  must  be  done ;  either  the 
former  checks,  so  incautiously  removed,  must  be  at  once  restored, 
or  further  concessions  made  to  invest  the  different  branches  of 
the  Legislature  with  independent  action.  Either  too  much  has 
been  done  or  too  little.  To  retrace  one's  steps  is  humiliating  as 
well  as  difficult.  The  pride  of  man  revolts  at  an  acknowledg- 
ment of  error  or  ignorance  ;  and  power,  when  once  parted  with, 
is  not  easily  recovered.  Progression  is  safer,  and  more  agreeable. 
To  give  due  weight  and  influence  to  the  Upper  House,  its  mem- 
bers must  not  receive^ieir  appointment  from  a  political  leader, 
but  directly  from  the  crown  or  from  the  people.  If  it  must  be 
from  the  latter,  then  since  they  are  to  represent  the  upper  class 
of  society  in  the  province,  let  that  class  select  them.  Make  the 
property-qualification  of  the  elector  so  considerable,  as  to  insure 
the  exercise  of  discretion  and  judgment  in  the  electors  ;  and  to 
impart  character,  stability,  and  authority  to  the  members,  let  the 
property-qualification  of  the  candidate  be  still  higher  than  that 
of  the  voter,  and  let  the  term  of  service  be  not  less  than  ten 
years  at  least.  Restore  to  the  queen's  representative  some  of 
his  authority,  and  assign  to  him  some  duties  to  perform ;  and 
suffer  him  to  be  in  reality,  what  he  now  nominally  is,  the  gov- 
ernor. Such  an  arrangement  would  elevate  the  whole  character 
of  the  Legislature,  and  acquire  for  it  the  respect  and  obedience 
of  the  whole  people  ;  thus  each  branch  of  the  provincial  Parlia- 
ment would  be  independent  in  its  action. 

There  is,  in  every  country  where  constitutional  government 


THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  337 

prevails,  and  ever  will  be,  a  minority  more  or  less  numerous  and 
powerful,  according  to  circumstances.  This  body,  whether  lib- 
eral or  conservative,  English  or  French,  Protestant  or  Romanist, 
is  entitled,  in  common  justice,  to  protection.  At  present  they  are 
at  the  mercy  of  an  adverse  political  opponent,  and  they  have  no 
means  of  redress.  If  they  appeal  to  England,  the  reply  is,  You  have 
responsible  government.  If  to  the  queen's  representative,  he 
shrugs  his  shoulders  and  says  :  "  What  can  I  do  ?"  If  to  the  Coun- 
cil, they  are  informed  that  they  entirely  concur  with  the  Ministry, 
who  have  a  large  majority  in  their  body.  Cut  off  from  all  redress, 
and  baffled  in  all  their  attempts  to  obtain  a  hearing,  if  in  the 
bitterness  of  their  hearts,  when  they  reflect  that  their  forefathers 
left  their  homes  and  their  fortunes  to  follow  the  flag  of  their  king 
into  a  foreign  land,  and  that  they  themselves  have  periled  their 
lives  and  properties  in  suppressing  rebellions  in  the  country  of 
their  adoption,  without  even  the  thanks  of  Parliament,  when 
honors  and  rewards  were  bestowed  on  the  military  for  merely 
doing  their  duty ;  if,  when  goaded  into  excitement  by  what  they 
conceive  unmerited  injury,  they  talk  of  annexation  and  indepen- 
dence, they  are  told  that  their  language  and  conduct  is  treason- 
able, and  are  forthwith  ejected  from  their  command  in  the  mili- 
tia, and  from  the  commission  of  the  peace.  I  am  not  their  ad- 
vocate, nor  do  I  even  assert  that  their  complaints  are  well  or  ill 
founded  ;  it  is  sufficient  that  they  complain,  and  abundant  secu- 
ity  can,  and  ought  to  be  given  them,  that  they  shall  have  all  the 
weight  to  which  they  are  entitled.  One  remedy,  the  most  effi- 
cient and  the  best,  lies  in  a  total  transfer  of  patronage  to  other 
hands,  which,  while  it  can  not  fail  to  satisfy  them,  will  be  an 
infinite  improvement  in  colonial  government,  and  insure  to  the 
community  a  far  better  and  more  respectable  class  of  public  offi- 
cers. 

No  man  whatever  ought  to  be  intrusted  with  the  disposal  of 
all  the  offices  in  a  colony.  It  is  too  great  a  power,  too  liable  to 
abuse,  and  never  was,  and  never  can  be  so  exercised  as  to  avoid 
the  imputation  of  partiality  or  corrupt  motives.  If  it  must  be 
committed  to  any  one,  it  can  nowhere  be  so  safely  lodged  as  in 
the  hands  of  a  governor,  responsible  to  the  Crown.  He  is  gener- 
ally a  man  of  rank  and  honor,  and  always  unembarrassed  by 
family  connections,  personal  feelings,  or  local  prejudices.  He  can 
have  but  one  object  in  view,  which,  if  not  founded  on  the  higher 

P 


338  THE  ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

principles  of  duty,  is  well  secured  by  a  regard  for  his  own  charac- 
ter and  the  success  of  his  administration ;  and  that  object  is  a 
faithfu-1  and  honest  discharge  of  the  trust  reposed  in  him.     But 
even  he  may  be  biased  by  those  by  whom  he  is  surrounded,  who 
have  more  facilities  of  access  to  him  than  others  ;  and  the  purer- 
minded  a  man  is  himself,  the  more  difficult  is  it  for  him  even  to 
suppose  the  possibility  of  deception  being  practiced  upon  him. 
But  in  a  country  like  Canada,  whose  political  leaders  are  the 
mere  emanations  of  democracy,  it  is  impossible  to  select  so  unfit 
a  depository  of  power  as  the  premier.     He  will  inevitably  use 
it  to  pay  for  past  or  purchase  future  services ;  he  has  personal 
friendship  to  gratify,  or  private  insult  to  avenge.     The  exigen- 
cies of  party  will  preponderate  over  the  claims  of  justice,  and  the 
character  of  the  public  servants  must  in  time  be  greatly  deterio- 
rated.    To  remedy  this  evil,  to  protect  the  minority,  to  secure 
the  people  from  peculations  and  the  court  from  pollution,  it  will 
be  necessary  to  re-invest  the  governor  with  the  patronage,  sub- 
ject to  the  approbation  of  the  Upper  House,  and  place  it  under 
similar  guards  and  restraints  (by  requiring  the  consent  and  con- 
currence of  the  Council  to  his  nomination  to  certain  offices)  as 
are  imposed  upon  the  President  of  the  United  States  by  the  ad- 
mirable institutions  of  that  country,  which  are  so  simple  in  their 
operation,  and  yet  so  safe,  from  the  numerous  checks  and  bal- 
ances they  contain.     That  this  system  of  self-government  could 
be  so  modified  as  to  work  advantageously,  there  can  be  no  doubt ; 
but  real  substantial  responsibility  must  be  both  devised  and  in- 
creased.    One  thing,  however,  is  certain — this  change  can  only 
be  effected  by  Parliament.     The  Canadian  politicians  have  tasted 
the  sweets  of  despotism,  and  they  will  not  limit  or  diminish  their 
own  power.     But  here  I  must  pause,  and  adopting  the  advice 
given  by  Horace*  to  a  friend  similarly  employed,  bring   this 
sketch  to  a  conclusion. 

"  Principum  amicitias,  et  arm  a 
Nondum  expiatis  uncta  cruoribus 
Periculosa  plenum  opus  aleae, 
Tractas,  et  incedis  per  igna 
Suppositos  cineri  doloso." 

»  Odes,  ii  1. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

APPLICATION    OF    THE    FACTS    CONTAINED  IN    THIS   WORK. 

Value  of  the  preceding  History  to  Members  of  Parliament  and  the  Republican 
Party  iii  Europe — The  Question  considered  whether  a  Republican  Govern, 
ment,  like  that  of  America,  can  exist  in  England  or  France :  Firstly,  with 
Reference  to  the  History  of  the  first  Attempt  at  Colonization,  and  herein  of 
the  Condition  of  America  at  the  Time — The  People  who  made  the  Experiment 
of  Settling  at  Massachusetts — Their  Peculiarities — No  pre-existing  Monarchy, 
Hierarchy,  or  Nobility  to  contend  with — Settlers  not  a  Military  People— No 
Mobs — Monarchy  the  oldest  and  most  natural  form  of  Government  in  the 
World — Laws  passed  to  regulate  the  Price  of  Labor — Massachusetts  was  a 
Federative  Body  in  Miniature.  Secondly,  with  Reference  to  the  Period  of 
the  Adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  herein  of  general  Predisposition 
to  Rebellion — Immediate  Cause  of  Revolution — The  large  Republic  possesses 
all  the  Features  of  the  first :  1st.  The  same  vast  Territoy;  2d.  People  of  one 
common  Origin  and  Language  ;  3d.  No  pre-existing  Monarchical  Institutions  ; 
4th.  No  powerful  Neighbors;  5th.  No  Poor;  6tb.  Important  Additions  or 
Changes  ;  7th.  Universal  Toleration,  in  consequence  of  which  there  is  Danger 
of  Romish  Ascendency — Growth  of  Sectarianism  and  infinite  Dissent — Ameri- 
can Episcopalian  Church,  its  Character,  Conduct,  and  Growth — Republicanism 
favorable  to  Spread  of  Popery — The  Error  of  the  Jesuits  in  judging  of  it — State 
of  Popery  in  purely  Roman  Catholic  Countries,  and  where  Protestantism 
prevails — Permanent  Provision  for  President  and  Judges — High  Character  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States — American  Mode  of  selecting  Judges 
recommended  for  Colonies — Difference  in  Power  of  English  and  American 
Judges.  Thirdly,  Reasons  why  a  Republic  can  not  be  successful  in  England 
— Effects  of  Monarchy  on  Society.  Fourthly,  Reasons  why  it  can  not  exist 
in  France — Effect  of  first  Revolution  in  France — Restoration — Return  of  No- 
bles, Clergy,  and  Gentry — Actions  of  Bonaparte — Final  Expulsion  of  the 
Bourbons — Louis  Phillipe's  Conduct — Abdication — "  La  Petite  Eglise" — 
Puritanism  and  Infidelity  compared — They  produce  similar  Effects — Roman- 
ism in  France  and  in  the  United  States  compared — Extraordinary  Influence 
possessed  by  the  Popish  Clergy — Poverty  of  agricultural  Classes  in  France — 
Proper  Size  of  Farms — Superiority  of  two  Legislative  Chambers  over  a  single 
Assembly — Downward  tendency  of  Democracy  in  France — Difference  be- 
tween Anglo-Saxon  and  Gallican  Races  illustrated  by  California — Americans 
could  not  retain  their  Institutions  if  France  were  evacuated  for  them,  nor 
could  the  French,  if  possessed  of  America  and  its  Institutions,  work  the 
Machinery  or  govern  it  successfully — Only  sure  Basis  of  any  Government. 

THE  foregoing  chapters  contain,  a  mass  of  facts  most  useful  for 
those  who  have  a  voice  in  the  government  of  the  colonies  of  Great 
Britain.  They  portray  the  history,  condition,  and  fate  of  provinces 
planted  by  disaffected  emigrants,  in  which  the  Church  was  una- 


340  THE   ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA. 

ble,  or  neglected,  to  extend  her  beneficial  influence,  and  where 
the  State  left  republicanism  to  grow  up  to  maturity,  and  bear  the 
natural  fruit  of  rebellion.  At  the  same  time,  they  show  the  con- 
dition and  prospects  of  Canada,  settled  by  loyalists,  distinguished 
alike  for  their  intelligence  and  devoted  attachment  to  the  Crown, 
whose  affections  an  unwise  concession,  hasty  and  inconsiderate 
legislation,  and  a  fatal  indulgence  and  patronage  bestowed  upon 
democracy,  have  alienated,  without  conciliating  those  whom  they 
were  intended  to  win.  They  exhibit  also  the  spectacle  of  an 
abortive  attempt  at  self-government,  in  which  too  much  of  the 
monarchical  character  of  the  constitution  has  been  destroyed,  and 
too  little  republicanism  introduced  into  its  place  to  satisfy  either 
party  ;  and  consequently  annexation  or  independence  are  can- 
vassed or  advocated  with  the  same  shameless  insolence  with  which 
a  less  intelligent,  but  equally  restless  faction  in  Dublin  was  per- 
mitted to  disseminate  treason,  under  the  specious  pretext  of  a  re- 
peal of  the  Union. 

To  the  democratic  party  in  Great  Britain  and  France,  they 
furnish  data  by  which  they  can  test  the  accuracy  of  their  theory, 
that  that  which  has  succeeded  in  the  United  States  is  equally 
applicable  to  them,  and  would  be  productive,  on  trial,  of  the  same 
beneficial  results.  I  do  not  propose  to  discuss  at  any  length,  the 
practicability  of  their  adapting  the  American  constitution  to  their 
condition.  My  object  is  to  collect  and  arrange  the  facts,  upon 
which  it  may  be  argued  by  those  more  immediately  interested  in 
it,  who  from  living  on  the  spot  where  they  propose  to  try  the  ex- 
periment, and  being  conversant  with  what  is  passing  before  their 
eyes,  are  more  competent  for  the  task  than  I  can  be.  An  author 
of  great  and  deserved  celebrity  says*  no  American  should  ever 
speak  of  Europe,  for  he  no  sooner  opens  his  mouth  on  the  subject, 
than  he  betrays  his  ignorance  and  presumption.  Whether  there 
may  not  be  some  little  arrogance  in  the  remark,  I  shall  not  stop 
to  inquire ;  but  that  he  can  not  possibly  know  as  much  of  Great 
Britain  as  an  Englishman,  or  of  France  as  a  Frenchman,  will  be 
readily  conceded.  Europeans,  on  the  other  hand,  have  a  wider 
grasp  of  intellect,  infinitely  more  penetration,  and  a  spirit  of  pa- 
tient research,  and  laborious  investigation,  that  enable  them  both 
to  speak  and  write  about  America  with  greater  ease  and  less  diffi- 
dence than  the  natives.  Unable  to  retain  their  own  transatlantic 

*  De  Tocqueville. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  341 

possessions,  or  preserve  their  respective  countries  from  revolutions, 
they  can  nevertheless  easily  detect  the  errors  of  the  Americans, 
and  are  somewhat  alarmed  for  the  fate  of  a  people  who  are  i<mo- 
rant  enough  to  protect  their  agriculture  and  manufactures,  and 
are  sufficiently  selfish  to  prefer  a  commercial  system,  under  which 
they  have  grown  and  flourished,  to  periling  their  prosperity  by 
rash  innovations,  alike  opposed  to  reason  and  experience !  Great 
Britain  has  endeavored  to  instruct  them,  that  a  home  market  is 
in  no  way  distinguishable  from  any  other,  and  to  prove  the  sin- 
cerity of  her  conviction,  has  abandoned  to  them  that  of  which 
she  had  so  long  the  monopoly  in  her  colonies ;  but  they  have  ac- 
cepted the  proffered  boon,  and  at  the  same  time  very  quietly  re- 
tained their  own.  It  is  no  wonder,  therefore,  that  they  are  very 
complacently  informed,  that  they  are  incompetent  to  express  an 
opinion  upon  European  subjects.  Submitting  to  authority,  I  shall 
not  go  largely  into  theories,  but  rather  I  shall  recapitulate  a  few 
facts  that  lie  dispersed  through  this  work,  or  which  I  may  not 
have  sufficiently  detailed,  that  are  very  important  elements  in  the 
consideration  of  the  question,  whether  such  a  republic  as  that  of 
America,  or  any  thing  at  all  resembling  it,  can  exist  either  in 
England  or  in  France. 

The  subject  must  be  considered  with  reference  to  two  distant 
and  distinct  periods  of  time  :  1  st.  The  early  stages  of  colonization 
in  1620  ;  2d.  The  state  of  things  existing  at  the  adoption  of  the 
Federal  Constitution  in  1789. 

First. — The  early  stage  of  colonization. 

Under  this  head  we  must  advert  to  the  condition  of  the  country 
when  a  settlement  was  formed  in  it,  and  the  character  of  the 
people  by  whom  it  was  attempted.  When  Massachusetts  was 
first  colonized,  North  America  was,  with  some  few  insignificant 
exceptions,  a  vast  unbroken  forest,  extending  from  the  shores  of 
the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  This  immense  heritage  was 
divided  among  wandering  tribes  of  Indians,  who  lived  by  the 
chase  or  the  fisheries,  and  bartered  away,  to  the  emigrants,  their 
freehold  for  glass  beads,  worthless  trinkets,  or  intoxicating  liquors. 
The  world  of  wood  and  water  was  more  than  sufficient  for  both 
races,  arid  as  each  successive  wave  of  population  advanced,  the 
aborigines  receded,  preferring  the  listless  repose,  or  exciting  sports 
of  savage  life,  to  the  unceasing  toil,  and  daily  cares  of  husbandry. 
The  encroachments  of  the  white  man  were  slow,  and  almost 


342  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

imperceptible.  The  sound  of  the  woodman's  ax,  and  the  flres 
with  which  he  destroyed  the  trunks  of  the  trees  he  had  felled, 
alarmed  the  animals  of  the  forest,  and  as  they  retired,  they  were 
followed  by  the  red  man.  But  neither  the  Indian  warrior,  noi 
the  English  settler,  ever  dreamed  that  this  gradual  but  incessant 
rising  of  the  flood  of  emigration  would  soon  cover  the  whole  land, 
and  that  entire  nations  of  the  former  would  shortly  cease  to  exist, 
but  in.  history.  Such  was  the  country  that  the  Puritans  selected 
for  their  republican  experiment.  Who  these  fanatics  were,  we 
have  seen ;  what  they  were,  has  not  been  so  fully  expressed. 
They  were  mostly  people  from  the  middle  class  of  society,  men  of 
good  family,  considerable  means,  and  liberal  education.  They 
left  England  at  a  time  when  the  rights  of  men  were  clearly 
defined,  and  stoutly  defended,  when  the  law  of  the  land  was 
well  matured,  and  impartially  administered,  and  when  the  ex- 
tent of  prerogative  alone  required  to  be  limited,  and  restrained, 
by  reasonable  and  constitutional  grounds.  They  had  more  breed- 
ing than  the  Presbyterians,  more  knowledge  than  the  Baptists, 
and  more  judgment  than  the  Independents.  To  these  qualities 
they  added  craftiness,  a  quality  rarely  found  connected  with  a 
sound  understanding ;  but  their  constrained  conformity  to  the 
usages  of  the  Church,  had  taught  them  duplicity,  and  deceit 
always  superinduces  cunning.  By  the  exercise  of  this  low  art, 
they  concealed  their  numerical  weakness  from  the  savages,  whom 
they  soon  circumvented,  and  their  ambitious  schemes  of  inde- 
pendence from  the  English,  who  were  easily  duped  by  loyal  and 
affectionate  professions.  Bold,  hardy,  enterprising,  and  intelli- 
gent, they  were  able  to  grapple  with  the  difficulties  of  their 
situation,  while  their  enthusiasm  gave  them  a  unity  of  action,  a 
fixity  of  purpose,  and  a  spirit  of  endurance,  that  rendered  their 
ultimate  success  inevitable. 

Secondly. — They  had  nothing  to  destroy  or  remove,  when  they 
laid  the  foundations  of  their  empire.  There  was  neither  royalty 
nor  prelacy  to  exterminate.  They  were  guiltless  of  the  blood  of 
Charles  and  Laud.  The  merciless  and  wicked  task  of  putting 
them  to  death  was  left  to  their  brethren  in  England.  The  cool- 
ness with  which  these  atrocious  murders  were  committed,  and  the 
solemn  mockery  of  a  trial,  conceded  to  the  martyrs  after  their  fate 
had  been  predetermined  by  their  judges,  show  that  fanaticism 
hardens  the  heart,  which  it  is  the  object  of  religion  to  soften  and 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  343 

ameliorate.  Not  only  was  there  no  primate  in  the  land  of  their 
adoption,  but  there  were  no  bishops,  and  no  Established  Church. 
There  were  no  nobles  to  defend  their  lives,  their  order,  and  their 
estates.  No  endowments  to  confiscate,  no  colleges  to  raze  to  the 
ground,  as  heretical  or  papistical  seminaries.  No  altars  to  plun- 
der, and  no  malignants  to  prescribe  or  banish.  But,  above  all, 
there  were  no  dangerous  partisans  of  these  ancient  orders  or  estab- 
lishments, to  foment  discord  and  intrigue  among  the  people. 
They  had  the  whole  field  to  themselves.  There  was  neither 
whig  nor  tory  there,  democrat  nor  loco-foco,  free  trader  nor  pro- 
tectionist. They  were  all  republicans  in  politics,  and  congregu- 
tionalists  in  religion.  They  were  united  in  all  things.  If  any 
man  differed  in  opinion  from  them,  the  aid  of  a  divine  was 
sought  for,  who,  selecting  the  most  appropriate  text  he  could 
find,  excited  at  once  the  astonishment  of  the  offender  at  his  pow- 
erful gifts,  and  repentance  for  his  refractory  spirit.  If  this  re- 
source failed,  and  the  culprit  still  resisted,  he  was  fined,  or 
whipped,  or  banished,  or  underwent  all  three  punishments,  accord- 
ing to  his  delinquency ;  so  early  did  the  tyranny  of  a  majority 
— inevitable  consequence  of  republicanism — exhibit  itself. 

Thirdly. — They  were  not  a  military  people.  Although  they 
acquired  in  their  defensive  wars  with  the  Indians  and  French, 
great  skill  and  courage,  and  a  discipline  and  obedience  to  orders 
rarely  found  in  fresh  levies,  they  cultivated  the  arts  of  peace,  and 
deprecated  the  necessity  that  compelled  them  to  take  up  the 
sword.  It  is  true  there  was  but  little  scope  or  inducement  for 
martial  exploits.  The  savages  had  neither  flocks  nor  herds,  nor 
cities,  nor  fertile  meadows  to  tempt  the  avarice  or  reward  the 
toils  of  the  soldier.  His  bow  and  arrows,  with  which  he  sup- 
ported and  defended  himself,  constituted  his  sole  possessions. 
The  French,  in  Canada,  were  separated  from  them  by  impassable 
rivers  or  lakes,  and  a  trackless  and  immeasurable  forest.  The 
Dutch  settlements,  on  the  Hudson,  were  too  feeble  to  excite  their 
apprehension,  and  too  poor  to  suggest  the  idea  of  plunder.  The 
rest  of  the  continent  was  peopled  by  their  own  countrymen ;  there 
is,  however,  no  reason  to  suppose  if  they  had  had  neighbors  of  a 
more  formidable  or  more  wealthy  character,  that  they  would  have 
harbored  the  unworthy  design  of  invading  their  territory,  to  enrich 
themselves  at  their  expense.  Theirs  was  a  flight  into  the  desert 
to  avoid  pursuit.  They  chose  Massachusetts,  not  because  it  was 


344  TOE   ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

fertile,  but  because  it  afforded  an  asylum,  fortified  by  three  thou- 
sand miles  of  ocean  on  one  side,  and  an  interminable  forest  on  the 
other.  Whatever  resemblance  they  bore  to  the  saints,  whose 
title  they  very  modestly  appropriated  to  themselves,  though  they 
refused  it  to  the  Apostles,  it  is  certain  the  land  of  their  adoption 
furnished  a  very  inadequate  idea  of  a  terrestrial  paradise. 

Fourthly. — Having  brought  with  them  fiom  England,  the 
frame-work  of  a  constitution  with  which  they  were  familiarly 
acquainted,  they  adopted,  not  only  without  opposition,  but  by 
general  consent,  several  organic  alterations,  which,  though  they 
materially  changed  its  character,  no  way  impeded  its  practical 
operation.  The  chief  magistrate  who,  in  their  own  country  was 
called  a  king,  they  denominated  "  a  governor ;"  and  instead  of 
an  hereditary  succession  in  one  family,  they  made  the  office  elect- 
ive, and  the  tenure  annual.  In  other  respects,  their  respective 
duties  and  obligations  were  very  similar.  The  Upper  Branch  of 
the  Legislature  was  constituted  upon  the  same  democratic  princi- 
ples as  the  Lower,  and  invested  with  powers  analogous  to  those 
pertaining  to  the  House  of  Lords.  They  relinquished  the  Church 
of  England,  and  established  Congregationalism  in  its  place.  They 
fled  from  their  native  land,  and  emigrated  to  America,  because, 
they  abhorred  persecution ;  and  then,  by  one  of  those  signal  acts 
of  inconsistency  to  which  human  nature  is  unhappily  so  subject, 
they  commenced  compelling  all  others  to  conform  to  their  views 
It  was  an  error,  however,  that  soon  worked  its  own  cure,  as  we 
have  already  seen. 

This  little  republic  with  a  State  Church,  was  the  first  attempt 
at  self-government  on  this  continent.  No  men  were  better  quali- 
fied to  try  the  experiment  than  themselves.  They  had  the 
knowledge,  the  prudence,  the  perseverance,  and  the  unity  that 
was  requisite ;  and  for  half  a  century  success  attended  them, 
until  the  strong  arm  of  imperial  power  interfered,  and  compelled 
obedience  to  royal  authority.  But  they  knew  full  well  that  theijr 
favorite  form  of  government  required  a  succession  of  similar  peo- 
ple, with  equal  powers  of  discrimination,  and  imbued  with  the 
same  orinciples.  They,  therefore,  as  I  have  already  related, 
erected  their  republic  on  the  only  sure  basis  on  which  it  ever  can 
exist — gsneral  education ;  for  equality  of  rank,  political  rights, 
and  the  infusion  of  the  elective  principle  into  every  institution, 
are  of  themselves  not  sufficient  to  preserve  vitality  for  any  length 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  345 

of  time.  They  recognized  the  voice  of  the  people  as  the  only 
true  source  of  power.  Their  first,  their  constant,  and  sole  aim 
was  to  make  the  population  understand  and  value  their  privileges, 
and  render  themselves  worthy  of  the  high  vocation  to  which  they 
were  called.  In  other  countries  the  task  is  almost  impracticable ; 
in  Massachusetts  it  was  comparatively  easy.  There  was  no  igno- 
rant and  turbulent  mob  to  deal  with ;  no  hopeless  and  squalid 
poverty  to  relieve  and  enlighten ;  no  "  iron  king"  to  speculate 
on  their  toils ;  no  "  cotton  princes"  to  agitate  and  influence  the 
masses,  by  deluding  them  with  the  promise  of  cheap  bread,  while 
they  were  defrauding  them  of  their  wages,  and  plunging  them 
into  deeper  distress ;  and  no,  "  factory  financiers"  to  preach 
exemption  from  taxes,  by  the  easy  and  honest  process  of  repudi- 
ating the  National  Debt.  But  above  all,  there  were  no  noble 
radicals  to  barter  their  order  and  their  country  for  popularity, 
and,  like  old  "  Egalite,"  sacrifice  every  principle  in  the  vain  hope 
that  they  might  eventually  escape  from  the  beasts  of  prey  whom 
they  had  fed  and  excited.  Every  man  was,  or  could  be  if  he  de- 
sired, a  freeholder,  not  by  ejecting  the  possessor,  but  by  subduing 
the  soil ;  not  by  fraud  or  confiscation,  but  by  a  grant  willingly 
bestowed ;  because  he  who  added  an  acre  of  arable  land  to  the 
general  stock,  contributed  to  the  means  and  support  of  the  com- 
munity. It  was  a  rural  population,  who  purchased  no  land,  paid 
no  rent,  and  owned  no  superiors  but  those  whom  they  themselves 
elected  to  represent  their  local  claims  on  the  State,  for  purposes 
to  which  their  individual  means  were  inadequate,  or  to  assist  in 
framing  laws  which  they  themselves  were  to  obey.  A  people, 
so  situated,  are  naturally  moral.  Even  in  poor  countries,  like 
Massachusetts,  the  virgin  soil  produces  sufficient  for  the  support 
of  a  family,  and  a  surplus  for  hospitality,  as  well  as  a  suitable 
provision  for  those  who  leave  the  parental  roof. 

Industry  and  frugality  were  the  characteristics  of  the  people. 
Their  wants  were  few  ;  food,  raiment,  and  shelter- alone  were  in- 
dispensable. Common  diligence  easily  supplied  these.  Luxuries 
were  unknown ;  but  comforts  and  abundance  were  within  the 
reach  of  all  who  had  health,  strength,  and  inclination  to  labor. 
They  were  all  equal  by  nature ;  the  constitution  of  the  coun- 
try made  them  so  legally ;  and  the  education  provided  by  the 
State  rendered  them  so  practically.  The  only  observable  in 
equality  among  them  was  such  as  is  inseparable  from  our  condi 

p* 


346  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

tion.  As  in  life  some  men  are  taller  or  stronger  than  others,  and 
some  endowed  with  powers  of  mind  or  tody  superior  to  those  of 
their  neighbors ;  so  there  will,  from  these  or  other  adventitious 
causes,  always  he  some  richer  or  poorer,  more  distinguished  or 
obscure  than  others.* 

There  is  no  democracy  in  nature.  The  lofty  mountain  rises 
boldly  from  the  lowly  valley,  and  the  tall  cedar  or  aspiring  pine 
towers  above  the  humbler  trees  of  the  forest.  The  surface  of  the 
world  is  every  where  varied  and  diversified.  The  nucleus  of 
every  society  is  a  family.  The  father  is  despotic.  When  fami- 
lies increase,  they  form  a  tribe.  The  patriarch  of  the  little  com- 
munity maintains  the  same  authority.  His  will  is  law,  and  all 
submit  to  it  because  it  is  parental.  As  these  tribes  become  more 
numerous,  the  most  powerful  chieftain  assumes,  or  is  selected  for, 
the  supreme  command,  and  takes  the  attributes  of  royalty  and 
the  title  of  sovereign,  while  the  other  magnates  occupy  the  posi- 
tion of  nobles.  This  is  the  oldest  and  most  natural  form  of  gov- 
ernment. The  combination  of  these  separate  communities  gives 
strength  to  the  nation,  and  the  centralization  of  power  in  one  per- 
son imparts  weight  and  dignity  to  the  throne.  The  first  internal 
struggle  is  commonly  between  the  monarch  and  his  nobles,  which 
is  hastened  or  retarded  by  the  personal  qualities  of  the  prince. 
In  this  contest  an  appeal  is  made  by  both  to  the  people,  on  the 
one  hand  to  repress  the  turbulence  or  insubordination  of  the  lords, 
and  on  the  other  to  restrain  the  despotism  or  resist  the  oppression 
of  the  king.  To  secure  the  support  of  the  population,  resort  is 
had  to  the  usual  arts  of  popularity.  They  are  informed  that  they 
have  rights,  of  W7hich  each  claims  to  be  the  champion,  and  are 
promised  immunities  and  privileges  which  both  engage  to  main- 
tain and  enlarge.  If  the  monarch  is  weak  in  intellect  or  deficient 
in  conduct,  he  is  compelled  to  execute  a  magna-charta,  and  sub- 
mit to  have  his  authority  limited ;  if  he  be  successful  he  takes 
care  to  punish  the  refractory,  and  disable  his  opponents  from  en- 

*  Burke  says,  "  Turbulent  discontented  men  of  quality,  in  proportion  as  they 
are  puffed  up  with  pride  and  arrogance,  generally  despise  their  own  order. 
One  of  the  first  symptoms  they  discover  of  a  selfish  and  mischievous  ambition 
is  a  profligate  disregard  of  a  dignity  of  which  they  partake  with  others.  When 
men  of  rank  sacrifice  ideas  of  dignity  to  ambition,  and  work  with  low  instru- 
ments for  low  ends,  the  whole  composition  becomes  low  and  base.  Does  it  not 
produce  something  ignoble  and  inglorious  ?  a  tendency  to  lower  along  with  in- 
dividuals all  the  dignity  and  importance  of  the  State  ?" 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA  347 

tertaining  similar  projects  of  aggression.  The  people,  from  being 
so  often  familiarized  with  these  disputes,  and  so  constantly  flatter- 
ed and  cajoled,  finding  that  the  real  strength  of  the  nation  resides 
in  them,  begin  at  last  to  believe  that  there  is  great  truth  in  all 
the  praises  bestowed  upon  them,  and  persuade  themselves  that 
they  are  competent  to  govern  without  the  aid  of  kings  or  princes, 
dispense  with  both,  and  set  up  a  republic.  Instead  of  being  con- 
tent with  a  few  masters,  whom  they  could  always  conciliate  or 
control,  they  submit  themselves  to  that  many-headed  monster  a 
majority,  and  become  alternately  tyrants  or  slaves.  Democracy, 
therefore,  is  the  last  resort,  because  it  is  the  least  natural  form 
of  government,  and  has  been  generally  found  in  old  countries  to 
terminate  at  the  point  from  which  it  started,  military  depotism. 
The  main  attraction  it  has  for  mankind  is  the  constant  incense 
it  offers  to  their  vanity.  It  calls  them  "  free  and  enlightened 
citizens,"  and  "  sovereign  people."  It  denies  the  divine  right  of 
kings,  but  assures  the  multitude  that  vox  popidi  is  vox  Dei. 
Although  there  is  something  repugnant  in  it  to  the  feelings  of  a 
gentleman,  there  is  a  certain  stage  of  civilization  to  which  it  is 
not  ill  adapted.  It  is  sufficient  for  the  wants  and  the  means  of 
a  rural  and  a  moral  population,  for  it  requires  virtuous  conduct  for 
its  basis  ;  but  it  presents,  in  its  practical  operation,  no  charms  for 
any  one  above  the  yeoman,  for  in  proportion  as  the  people  are 
simple  and  rustic,  so  is  refinement  wanting.  That  is  generated 
only  in  more  polished  circles ;  for  where  all  men  are  equal  by 
law,  by  nature,  and  by  compact,  the  highest  must  be  reduced, 
and  the  lowest  raised  ;  and  the  level  is  inevitable  mediocrity. 
From  these  natural  causes  the  state  of  society  in  the  Republic 
of  Massachusetts  at  the  end  of  fifty  years  (or  in  1684)  was  far 
inferior  to  that  of  New  York  and  Virginia.  It  was,  however, 
the  will  of  the  Americans  to  found  a  republic,  and  they  did  so 
without  an  effort  and  without  a  struggle.  My  object  is  not  to 
inquire  whether  they  were  right  or  wrong,  but  to  describe  the 
real  progress  and  fall  of  this  little  State.  Having  thus  establish- 
ed it,  they  secured  its  continuance  by  the  means  I  have  related. 
It  was  an  unobstructed  experiment.  It  was  not  a  revolution, 
which  must  ever  precede  such  a  change  in  old  and  populous 
countries.  There  was  neither  pressure  from  without,  nor  convul- 
sions within.  It  was  a  compact,  into  which  all  unanimously  en- 
tered. 


348  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

5th. — Although  the  Puritans  who  migrated  to  America,  were 
in  general  men  of  station,  intelligence,  and  property,  yet  they 
were  not  all  so.  There  were  mechanics,  servants,  and  men  who 
earned  their  bread  by  their  daily  labor.  The  proportion  of  the 
latter  was  small,  and  their  condition  soon  became  better  than 
that  of  their  employers.* 

It  was  not  necessary  to  erect  national  workshops  for  them,  at 
the  expense  of  the  State,  as  was  the  case  in  the  recent  revolution 
in  Paris  ;  on  the  contrary,  laws  were  passed,t  regulating  their 
wages,  to  prevent  them  from  growing  rich  too  rapidly  from  the 
wants  of  the  community.  For  the  same  cause,  no  disciplined 
troops  were  required  to  protect  the  government  from  the  tumults 
of  the  people.  A  few  constables,  to  serve  notices  or  legal  process, 
were  all  the  police  force  necessary  for  the  administration  of  the 
law.  But,  while  they  secured  the  equality  of  all,  they  made  due 
provision  for  the  support  of  the  supremacy  of  the  law ;  and  con- 
tempt of  authority  was  repressed  by  fine,  imprisonment,  or  corpo- 
ral punishment. 

6th. — This  little  State  of  Massachusetts  was  a  federative  body 
in  itself.  The  town  meeting,  as  we  have  seen,  was  a  little  re- 
public, subordinate  to  the  central  one  at  Boston.  So  was  the 
county,  with  its  bench  of  magistrates,  grand  jury,  and  parapher- 
nalia of  government.  Above  all,  and  controlling  all,  was  the 
metropolitan  or  federal  administration  in  Massachusetts.  The 
great  American  Republic  did  not  spring,  therefore,  directly  froiM 
the  revolution  :  it  resulted  as  an  inevitable  consequence  of  tht 
settlement  of  the  Puritans  in  New  England,  and  the  institutions 

*  This  is  the  natural  course  of  events  in  a  new  colony.  The  wheel  of  fortune 
turns  rapidly.  The  gentleman  is  soon  reduced  in  circumstances  :  his  servant, 
who  knows  the  value  of  frugality,  and  is  accustomed  to  labor,  becomes  rich 
enoueh  to  educate  his  son,  who,  in  his  turn,  loses  sight  of  the  means  by  which 
the  property  was  acquired,  and  relapses  into  the  obscurity  from  which  he  tem- 
porarily emerged.  I  find  in  a  letter  written  by  the  collector  of  the  port  of  Bos- 
ton (Mr.  Randolph),  addressed  to  Lord  Clarendon,  and  dated  June  14th,  1682, 
the  following  account  of  the  state  of  society  :  "  The  first  adventurers  are  either 
all  dead,  and  their  children  drove  out  of  all  by  their  fathers'  servants,  or  are  s& 
few  and  inconsiderable,  that  no  notice  is  taken  of  them.  And  as  for  all  the  per- 
sons joined  in  the  faction  here,  I  know  but  one  man  who  was  not  a  servant,  or 
a  servant's  son,  who  now  govern  the  governor  and  the  whole  country."  This 
is  said  to  be  exaggerated,  and  it  is  possible  that  the  language  is  too  unlimited, 
but  I  atn  inclined  to  think  it  is  not  far  from  the  truth. 

t  Carpenters,  joiners,  bricklayers,  sawyers,  and  thatchers,  were  to  receive 
no  more  than  two  shillings  per  diem. — See  Code  of  Laws  Hutchinson,  vol.  i.  p. 
«35;  vol.  II.  449. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  349 

they  founded  there.  It  was  a  vigorous  shoot  from  the  old  stock, 
the  roots  of  which  were  still  alive,  though  concealed  from  view, 
and  were  constantly  spreading  and  extending  themselves  under 
the  surface. 

We  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  second  period,  the 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  must  pause  for  a  time 
to  view  it  in  its  renovated  but  more  artificial  form.  In  the  his- 
torical sketch  given  of  the  little  republic  of  Massachusetts,  we 
observe  nearly  all  the  features  of  the  great  Union.  After  the 
charter  was  withdrawn,  in  1684,  and  a  more  monarchical  char- 
acter given  to  the  government,  we  have  seen  that  the  people  had 
become  so  accustomed  and  attached  to  their  old  institutions,  that 
they  never  lost  an  opportunity  of  resisting  the  royal  authority, 
and  the  interference  of  Parliament ;  and  that  they  had  so  dissem- 
inated their  democratic  opinions  through  the  other  colonies,  that 
the  inhabitants  were  every  where  ready,  and  only  waited  for  a 
suitable  opportunity  to  throw  off  the  yoke  altogether.  The  in- 
excusable, unconstitutional,  and  monstrous  project  of  taxing  a 
free  people,  without  their  consent,  unhappily  afforded  them  the 
pretext  they  desired,  and,  availing  themselves  of  an  occasion 
which  appeared  to  justify  to  themselves  and  the  world  a  resort  to 
arms,  they  burst  their  bonds  by  one  desperate  effort,  and  proclaim- 
ed themselves  independent.  They  had  been  so  long  used  to  local 
legislation  under  their  various  charters,  and  other  forms  of  pro- 
vincial government,  that  they  were  at  no  loss  what  institutions 
to  substitute  in  their  place.  Preserving  their  several  prescribed 
colonial  limits,  they  founded  a  republic  in  each  ;  and,  from  their 
past  experience  of  the  advantages  of  combination,  they  formed, 
with  no  great  invention  in  the  design,  but  with  infinite  skill  in 
the  details,  a  supreme  federative  compact,  denominated,  by  way 
of  contradistinction  to  those  of  the  separate  provinces,  the  govern- 
ment of  the  "  United  States."  The  accidental  circumstance  of 
their  having  heretofore  existed  as  distinct  plantations,  produced 
an  unwillingness  to  surrender  the  control  which  they  ever  exer- 
cised, within  their  own  limits,  over  their  own  affairs.  They, 
therefore,  retained  their  respective  sovereignty,  and  only  imparted 
to  the  federal  government  so  much  power  as  was  necessary  to 
preserve  uniformity  on  subjects  of  vital  importance,  and  to  enable 
it  on  emergencies  to  wield  their  combined  resources,  to  treat  in 
the  name  and  on  behalf  of  all  with  foreign  powers,  to  regulate 


350  THE    ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

their  common  army  and  navy,  and  similar  objects.  Without 
these  pre-existing  sub-divisions  of  the  country,  they  would  have 
had  to  resort  to  one  general  central  government,  which,  from  the 
extent  of  their  territory,  and  the  nature  of  democracy,  would, 
from  necessity,  either  have  been  too  weak  to  be  efficient,  or  too 
strong  to  be  quite  consistent  with  liberty.  Chance,  therefore, 
happily  limited  their  experiment  to  its  present  form. 

In  the  great  Republic  we  find  all  those  peculiarities  that  char- 
acterized their  first  model. 

1st. — The  same  vast  territory  for  the  purpose  of  expansion. 

2d. — People  of  one  common  origin  speaking  the  same  language, 
accustomed  to  the  same  laws,  versed  in  self-government,  and 
possessing  all  those  institutions,  without  which  power  can  never 
safely  be  lodged  in  the  whole  population. 

3d. — No  pre-existing  hierarchy,  aristocracy,  or  hereditary  orders, 
and  no  monarch.  The  latter  they  had  never  seen.  He  was  to 
them  a  mere  legal  fiction.  Theoretically  they  had  admitted  his 
existence ;  but,  practically  they  had  never  acknowledged  his 
representative. 

4th. — Though  they  had  exhibited  great  military  skill  and 
courage,  as  well  as  their  predecessors  in  Massachusetts,  they 
never  desired  nor  required  an  army.  Like  them,  they  had  no 
neighbors  to  fear,  were  removed  at  a  distance  from  the  bel- 
ligerent powers  of  Europe ;  and  five  thousand  men  under  arms 
were  sufficient  to  prevent  or  chastise  the  incursions  of  the  sav- 
ages. 

5th. — In  like  manner  they  had  no  poor,  but  the  infirm  and 
the  aged.  In  many  other  respects  the  resemblance  is  too  strik- 
ing to  be  misunderstood. 

On  the  other  hand,  they  made  some  extensive  changes,  and 
some  institutions  and  principles  were  introduced  that  owe  their 
origin  to  the  statesmen  that  framed  the  Constitution,  and  not  the 
old  Puritan  republicans.  Among  the  first  and  most  important 
was  universal  toleration,  a  refusal  to  endow  or  establish  any  form 
of  religion,  and  a  fixed  determination  to  place  all  on  a  footing  of 
perfect  equality.  To  the  casual  observer,  nothing  can  be  sounder 
in  principle,  or  more  just  and  equitable  in  practice.  I  do  not  say 
that  they  could  have  done  otherwise,  situated  as  they  were  at  the 
time ;  but  no  man,  who  understands  the  state  and  operation  of 
the  various  sects  in  the  United  States,  but  must  see  that  in  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  351 

end  this  universal  and  unlimited  toleration,  or  right  of  all  reli°-- 
ions,  will  ultimately  produce  that  political  preponderance  which 
it  was  designed  to  prevent.  At  the  period  of  the  revolution, 
there  were  very  few  Romanists  in  any  colony  but  Maryland ; 
and  one  of  the  grievances  complained  of  by  dissenting  demagogues, 
was  the  privilege  conceded  by  Great  Britain  to  the  French  in 
Canada  to  enjoy  religious  liberty,  which  they  ^affected  to  think 
would  jeopardize  the  safety  of  the  whole  continent.  The  appeal 
thus  made  to  the  prejudices  of  the  people,  produced,  as  it  was 
designed,  great  acerbity  of  feeling,  and  the  cry  of  "  No  Popery," 
was  added  to  that  of  "  No  taxation."  No  sooner,  however,  had 
they  achieved  their  independence,  than  they  invited  emigration 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  without  reference  to  creeds,  and  prom- 
ised protection  to  all.  Rome  availed  herself  of  the  invitation 
so  freely  given,  and  supplied  priests  and  funds  to  her  numerous 
votaries  that  resorted  thither.  Contrary  to  expectation,  they 
proved  themselves  good  democrats,  extolled  that  tolerance  in 
others  which  they  never  knew  how  to  practice  themselves,  and 
condemned  that  despotism  in  Europe,  whose  chains  they  had  so 
long  and  so  successfully  assisted  to  forge.  Prejudice  was  dis- 
armed, and  apprehension  allayed ;  and  the  people  congratulated 
themselves  on  the  wisdom  and  justice  of  their  institutions,  that 
could  work  such  a  wondrous  change  in  the  habits  and  thoughts 
of  a  body  of  Christians,  whose  very  name  had  hitherto  been  asso- 
ciated with  the  grossest  superstition,  and  the  most  devoted  bigotry. 
Such  a  form  of  religion,  they  said,  could  not  long  exist  in  a  re- 
public ;  mixing  freely,  and  associating  familiarly,  with  Protestants, 
they  would  soon  learn  to  prefer  independence  of  mind  to  a  blind 
submission  to  the  dictates  of  a  priesthood,  who  had  no  longer  In- 
quisitions to  interrogate,  and  no  dungeons  to  terrify  or  punish 
heretics.  They  had  hitherto  seen  too  little  of  them  to  know 
much  about  them ;  and  what  they  had  heard,  as  is  always  the 
case  when  a  character  is  sought  for  among  enemies,  was  grossly 
exaggerated.  They  found  them  good  citizens,  and  what  was  of 
equal  importance,  devoted  republicans.  Finding  they  were  by 
no  means  as  bad  as  they  were  represented,  like  all  men  who  dis- 
cover that  they  have  been  imposed  upon,  they  turned  a  deaf  ear 
to  all  that  experience  could  reveal,  or  wisdom  suggest,  as  to  the 
dangers  to  be  apprehended  to  the  State,  in  future  times,  from  the 
unity  of  so'  large  a  body,  and  the  facility  with  which  its  whole 


352  THE   ENGLISH   IN  AMERICA. 

weight  could  be  wielded  by  a  foreign  potentate.  Indeed  there 
was  but  little  opportunity  for  reflection.  The  resources  of  the 
country  were  great,  and  the  activity  of  the  people  still  greater. 
Wealth  was  to  be  found  in  every  branch  of  business ;  but  the 
most  diligent  and  industrious  appropriated  to  themselves  the  largest 
share.  In  this  universal  search  for  gold,  such  was  the  zeal  and 
the  hurry  of  the  pursuit,  that  there  was  no  time  for  meditation. 
The  urgent  and  indispensable  wants  of  the  State  and  of  individ- 
uals were  supplied  with  impatient  haste.  Futurity,  like  relig- 
ion, was  left  to  take  care  of  itself,  in  the  firm  belief  that  volun- 
tary efforts  would  be  sufficient  to  meet  an  emergency,  if  it  should 
ever  occur.  The  growth  was  forced  and  unnatural,  and  the 
shoots  so  exuberant,  as  to  lose  in  strength  what  they  gained  in 
size.  In  the  mean  time  all  was  change.  The  new  had  grown 
old,  and  the  old  worn-out  or  decayed.  Massachusetts  claimed  to 
be  the  Athens  of  America,  and  regarded  its  University  with 
pride  and  veneration.  Its  professors  would  adopt  nothing  with- 
out proof.  The  authority  of  English  divines  ceased  at  the  revolu- 
tion, and  was  renounced  with  that  of  the  Parliament. 

They  therefore  collated  manuscripts,  examined  into  the  Arian 
controversy,  and  reversing  the  decrees  of  the  Council  of  Nice, 
pronounced  the  heresy  to  be  orthodox  doctrine.  They  had  found- 
ed a  new  form  of  government,  why  should  they  not  adopt  a  new 
creed?  It  suited  the  rich,  the  literary,  and  the  new  fashionable 
society  of  Boston,  to  be  flattered  that  they  were  wiser  than  the 
Puritans,  and  far  in  advance  of  England,  which  was  behind  the 
enlightenment  of  the  age.  To  gratify  the  tastes  of  the  public, 
and  not  to  repress  them,  is  the  business  and  aim  of  the  voluntary 
system ;  and  the  preachers  have  no  reason  to  complain  of  the 
parsimony  of  their  congregations.  The  old  denominations,  as  we 
have  seen  described,  have  been  in  a  great  measure  superseded  by 
endless  numbers  of  sects,  more  or  less  absurd,  according  to  the 
degree  of  prejudice  that  was  to  be  pandered  to,  discontent  soothed 
into  complacency,  or  ignorance  extolled  into  wisdom.  They  are 
to  be  found  dispersed  over  the  whole  country,  extending  from  the 
lumberer's  camp  on  the  borders  of  Canada,  to  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  are  either  offshoots  from  the  old  dissenting  bodies,  or  indig- 
enous, annual,  or  biennial  plan^.  They  embrace  every  possible 
variety,  from  the  intellectual  Baptist  (who  eschews  and  dispenses 
with  all  human  learning,  and  yet  very  gravely  informs  his  flock 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.       '  353 

that  baptism  is  derived  from  a  Greek  word,  which  in  the  original 
language  signifies  "  to  dip,"  or  "immerse"),  to  the  Mormon,  who 
has  a  revelation  and  a  prophet  of  his  own. 

While  religion  was  thus  daily  put  on  and  off  like  a  garment, 
and  its  color,  texture,  and  shape,  constantly  varied,  there  were 
two  ecclesiastical  bodies,  with  fixed  creeds,  established  formularies, 
and  uniform  discipline,  which,  though  widely  different  from  each 
other,  remained,  amid  the  universal  mutability,  unchanged  in  all 
but  their  numbers — the  Episcopal  Church  of  the  United  States 
and  the  Church  of  Rome.  As  soon  as  the  former  was  released 
from  the  authority  of  the  English  hierarchy,  persecution  ceased  ; 
and,  like  all  other  bodies,  it  was  permitted  to  take  its  chance, 
unmolested  and  unheeded,  for  popular  favor.  Its  growth  has  ex- 
ceeded all  expectation  ;  and  its  further  increase,  from  obvious 
causes,  is^  fortunately  for  the  nation,  destined  to  be  no  less  cer- 
tain and  rapid.  It  is  impossible  to  express  the  commendation  so 
justly  due  to  her  clergy  ;  for  their  learning,  piety,  and  self-devo- 
tion are  above  all  praise.  Amid  all  the  secret  doubt,  and  open 
disbelief,  the  conflict  of  sectaries,  and  the  endless  changes  with 
which  she  is  surrounded  or  assailed,  her  portals  are  ever  open  to 
those  who  are  heavy  laden  with  care,  and  thousands  are  seeking 
rest  in  her  bosom.  From  such  a  body,  so  constituted,  no  danger 
is  to  be  apprehended.  Unconnected  with  the  State,  she  confines 
herself  to  her  own  calling.  She  neither  asks  nor  desires  a  union 
with  it.  She  has  no  ambition  but  to  perform  her  allotted  task, 
and*  no  object  but  the  meritorious  one  of  being  a  worthy  servant 
of  her  blessed  Lord  and  Master.  She  endeavors  to  make  her 
people  good  Christians,  and,  in  doing  so,  makes  them  good  sub- 
jects. She  teaches  obedience  to  the  laws,  and  respect  for  those 
in  authority,  and  upholds  good  order  in  society,  and  virtuous  and 
patriotic  conduct  in  public  life.  If  there  is  danger  to  the  common- 
wealth in  the  jealousies  and  contentions  of  sectaries,  there  is  also 
security  to  be  found  in  the  doctrines  and  unexceptionable  conduct 
of  the  Church. 

Romanists,  however,  are  not  content  with  equality  any  where. 
They  submit  to  it,  when  inevitable,  not  only  with  good  grace, 
but  with  much  laudation.  They  always  aim,  however,  at  su- 
premacy ;  and  when  supreme,  they  are  ever  intolerant.  They 
can  never  be  affectionate  subjects  to  a  Protestant  monarch,  but 
their  tenets  are  utterly  inconsistent  with,  and  subversive  of  a  re- 


354  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

public.  Rome  has  of  late  years  modified,  or  perhaps  changed, 
her  politics.  Formerly  she  aided  the  civil  power  in  time  of  need, 
but  took  care  to  secure  some  concession,  in  return,  for  her  own 
aggrandizement.  There  was,  however,  in  general,  a  good  under- 
standing between  them  ;  her  doctrine  being  that  the  throne  and 
the  altar  were  so  inseparably  connected,  that  neither  could  long 
exist  without  the  other.  This  defensive  and  offensive  treaty, 
however,  was  not  without  its  dangers.  If  the  Prince  was  a  con- 
venient ally,  he  showed  that  he  could  sometimes  be  a  trouble- 
some one  also,  and  often  interposed  his  shield  between  his  people 
and  the  Pontiff".  At  last  the  American  revolution  revealed  a 
new  page  in  the  theory  of  government.  The  Jesuits,  the  most 
able,  most  subtle,  and  best  informed  body  of  ecclesiastics  in  the 
world  on  the  subject  of  the  human  heart  and  its  passions,  affec- 
tions, and  infirmities,  and  the  most  skillful  in  entangliijg  it  in  its 
own  meshes,  until  it  becomes  powerless  in  their  hands,  lost  no 
time  in  studying  the  hew  and  startling  fact  it  disclosed,  and  ap- 
plying the.  information  thus  strangely  elicited  to  the 'extension  of 
their  power. 

The  experiment  of  universal  toleration,  and  equality  of  civil 
rights,  when  made  in  a  Protestant  country,  proved,  contrary  to  all 
expectation,  not  only  congenial  to  the  principles  of  Popery,  but 
conducive  to  its  growth  and  influence.  The  fact,  as  regarded 
the  United  States,  was  too  plain  to  admit  of  a  doubt.  The 
error  that  these  Italian  divines  committed  lay  in  supposing  the 
principle  to  be  one  of  general  instead  of  local  application,  and  in 
assuming,  without  sufficient  examination,  that  there  was  analogy 
or  resemblance  between  the  population  of  the  United  States  and 
that  of  any  country  whatever  in  the  Old  World.  This  mistake 
has  been  fatal  to  the  repose  of  the  Old  World,  and  has  well 
nigh  overwhelmed  the  power  that  conceived  and  acted  upon  such 
a  mischievous  policy.  Seduced,  however,  by  the  unexpected 
success  of  the  experiment  in  America,  Romanism  immediately 
allied  itself  to  democracy  every  where.  It  thought  that  if  it 
could  break  down  the  civil  power,  reduce  all  ranks  to  a  common 
level  and  gradually  weaken  any  constitutional  connection  between 
the  several  governments  and  Protestantism,  it  would  recruit  its 
forces  from  the  population  of  its  adversaries,  overthrow  them  in 
succession,  or  perhaps  overwhelm  them  all  together.  As  far  as 
pecuniary  resources  were  concerned,  it  had  already  discovered 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  353 

that  "  Peter's  pence,"  contributed  by  the  poor,  out-weighed  the 
rare  but  valuable  endowments  of  princes.  They  felt,  and  knew 
also,  that  when  all  distinctive  rank  should  be  destroyed,  its  own 
spiritual  orders  would  still  remain  pre-eminent,  exclusive,  and 
perpetual. 

Acting  upon  this  principle,  it  planned  and  executed  a  revolu- 
tion in  Belgium,  by  which  it  was  severed  from  Protestant  Hol- 
land ;  and  although  neither  England  nor  France  would  then  con- 
sent to  its  being  ma^le  a  republic,  the  reins  of  government  were 
transferred  to  the  hands  of  the  priests.  In  the  Rhine  provinces 
of  Prussia,  the  affections  of  the  papist  subjects  were  withdrawn 
from  the  king ;  and  they  were  prepared,  and  instructed  to  join 
the  first  effective  outbreak  of  democracy.  Ireland  was  agitated 
to  its  centre,  and  the  resources  of  the  empire  were  wasted  in  sup- 
porting an  army  in  that  unhappy  country  for  the  suppression  of 
rebellion.  In  Canada  the  tone  of  the  whole  Roman  Catholic 
body  was  changed.  Papists  have  accordingly  acted  with  the 
greatest  secrecy  and  unanimity,  and  every  where  obtained  con- 
cessions, that  increased  their  power  to  demand  with  more  effect 
in  future.  In  Europe  this  powerful  alliance  has  not  been  attend- 
ed with  the  success  that  was  anticipated.  The  degenerate  in- 
habitants of  ancient  Rome  are  vastly  inferior  in  intellect,  energy, 
and  virtue  to  the  vigorous  population  of  young  America.  No 
sooner  had  the  Pope  opened  the  flood  gates  of  democracy,  than 
he  was  ignominiously  driven  from  his  dominions.  He  "  sowed 
the  wind  and  reaped  the  whirlwind."  In  America  they  have 
acted  more  prudently ;  they  have  accommodated  themselves  to 
circumstances,  and  waited  their  time.  They  want  but  the  ma- 
jority, the  allotted  number  of  which  will  soon  be  completed,  to 
obtain  a  legal  and  constitutional  conquest  of  the  country.  The 
Irish  are  emigrating  in  masses  ;  hitherto  they  have  sent  their 
children,  the  whole  island  having  been  for  many  years  past  de- 
signed for,  and  systematically  converted  into  a  nursery  for  this 
purpose  ;  now  they  are  transporting  themselves  :  while  Papists 
from  all  parts  of  Europe  are  daily  swelling  their  forces,  and  aug- 
menting their  means.  In  every  Protestant  country,  they  are  a 
compact  body,  and  know  the  value  of  unity.  In  the  House  of 
Commons  their  cohesion  and  support  can  keep  any  Ministry  in 
office.  If  a  party,  having  less  consistency  and  principle  than  the 
Whigs,  were  willing  to  exceed  the  bounds  they  have  very  properly 


356  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

laid  down  to  themselves,  and  would  offer  rank  and  titles  to  their 
hierarchy,  whether  at  home  or  in  the  colonies ;  admit  their  poli- 
ticians to  the  Privy  Council,  pay  their  priests,  open  diplomatic 
relations  with  the  Pope,  and  preclude  the  Church  of  England 
from  the  exclusive  education  of  her  people,  can  any  man  doubt 
that  such  a  body,  which  always  makes  politics  secondary  or  aux- 
iliary to  its  Church,  would  give  their  support  to  such  valuable 
allies  ?  In  America  they  know  that  the  natural  course  of  events 
will  ultimately  put  them  in  possession  of  the^government.  Their 
language,  therefore,  is  more  guarded,  and  their  conduct  more 
circumspect ;  but  still  no  public  man  can  safely  resist  them. 
Whatever  party  they  patronize  must  succeed  ;  and  if  that  party 
expect  to  retain  office,  it  must,  as  far  as  is  compatible  with  the 
present  Constitution,  gratify  their  wishes.  If  there  is  any  mean- 
ing in  terms  or  definitions,  a  republican  form  of  government  is 
one  that  is  built  on  the  independent  exercise  by  every  individual 
of  his  own  judgment.  It  is  obvious,  then,  that  if  the  head  of  a 
Church  like  that  of  Rome,  can  command,  on  any  popular  ques- 
tion, a  million  or  two  of  votes,  a  power  is  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  administration  of  the  country,  totally  at  variance  with  its  in- 
stitutions, and  that,  as  his  power  increases,  the  chief  ecclesiastic 
whether  he  be  a  cardinal  or  archbishop,  will  gradually  direct  the 
affairs  of  the  nation.  In  the  meantime  its  fate  and  destiny,  if 
not  controlled,  are  at  least  most  materially  affected. 

In  the  ephemeral  experiment  now  trying  in  France,  this  powei 
of  the  priesthood  has  been  already  sensibly  felt,  in  her  extraordi- 
nary intervention  in  the  affairs  of  Rome  ;  by  which,  after  found- 
ing a  republic  at  the  expense  of  the  blood  of  thousands  of  her 
subjects,  she  exhibited  the  sincerity  of  her  love  of  freedom  by 
crushing  the  first  effort  of  the  Italians  to  follow  her  example. 
That  this  body  now  exerts  a  powerful  influence  in  the  United 
States  is  most  certain ;  and  that  it  is  likely  to  increase  and  greatly 
preponderate  is  more  than  probable ;  to  assert  broadly,  however, 
that  such  a  result  is  inevitable,  would  be,  to  say  the  least  of  it, 
presumptuous. 

An  over-ruling  Providence  has  many  things  in  store  for  us, 
which  we  are  not  only  unable  to  foretell,  but  even  to  conjecture  ; 
and  the  uncertain  future  no  doubt  caused  Rochefoucault  to  lay  it 
down  as  a  maxim,  "that  what  is  probable  seldom  happens." 
There  is,  however,  as  much  smartness  as  truth  in  the  remark. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  357 

and  it  may  be  viewed  rather  as  an  exception  than  the  rule  ;  were 
it  otherwise,  experience  would  be  a  fallacious  guide,  and  reasoning 
would  be  useless.  The  present  condition  of  Popery  is  certainly 
very  anomalous ;  while  the  trunk  has  become  decayed,  and  the 
branches  withered,  the  roots  are  vigorous,  and  are  constantly 
sending  up  new  shoots.  At  home  it  has  lapsed  into  indifference 
or  infidelity ;  in  Spain,  into  a  new  ceremonial  and  cold  observ- 
ance ;  and  in  South  America  it  is  wandering  into  dissent.*  In 
purely  Roman  Catholic  countries  it  is  every  where  languid ;  the 
stream  is  deep,  but  the  current  is  sluggish ;  it  appears  to  require 
opposition  to  preserve  its  vitality.  In  Ireland,  the  Orangemen 
compel  it  to  arm  and  withdraw  within  its  own  lines  ;  in  England, 
the  cry  of  "  No  Popery"  forces  it  to  station  sentinels  at  the  out- 
posts, and  to  send  spies  into  the  enemy's  camp ;  in  the  United 
States,  and  the  colonies,  it  is  surrounded  by  dissent ;  and  to  pre- 
serve its  people  from  contamination  it  is  necesssary  to  resort  to 
sanatory  laws,  and  cut  off  communication,  as  much  as  possible, 
with  those  who  live  in  infected  districts.  Some  ceremonies  and 
some  vestments  that  shock  puritanical  simplicity,  are  either  laid 
aside  or  reserved  for  the  edification  of  the  faithful  only ;  while 
obnoxious  tenets  or  practices  are  no  longer  publicly  enforced, 
though  privately  taught ;  for  ridicule  eludes  the  grasp,  long  after 
argument  is  vanquished. 

Whatever  men  pay  for,  or  contribute  to,  they  value,  because 
they  feel  they  have  an  undivided  share  in  the  common  stock. 
And  in  like  manner,  a  creed  that  has  to  be  maintained  in  ths 

*  An  extract  from  a  letter  of  the  Rev.  Mr.  Mines  (a  missionary  to  California) 
in  the  employment  of  the  American  Episcopal  Church,  dated  San  Francisco, 
Novemberplst,  1849 :  "  The  Church  of  Chili  is  far  advanced  in  the  path  of 
reformation.  A  Bishop  is  appointed.  The  Pope  refuses  to  confirm  the  chosen, 
the  nomination  is  renewed  in  the  form  of  a  demand ;  the  Pope  issues  a  bull  or- 
dering the  consecration,  declaring  that  we  have  proprio  motu  appointed  the 
said  A.  B.;  the  bull  is  sent  back  accompanied  with  a  demand  for  the  erasure  of 
the  proprio  motu,  as  the  nomination  had  been  by  the  Church  and  the  Govern- 
ment of  Chili,  and  the  Pope  yielded.  The  curate  and  several  inhabitants  of  a 
town  urged  me  much  to  accept  the  use  of  their  church  and  perform  our  service. 
No  explanation  that  I  was  not  a  Romanist  would  be  allowed.  Officiate  and 
'preach  I  must.  I  told  them,  in  answer  to  their  questions,  I  was  a  "  Christian," 
a  Catholic  Apostolic  one,  too,  not  a  Romanist;  holding  to  no  pope,  no  prayers  to 
saints,  no  masses  or  propitiatory  sacrifices  by  priests  for  the  living  and  the  dead ; 
no  auricular  confessions,  no  purgatory,  but  believed  in  the  commemorative 
sacrifice  :  showed  my  Prayer  Book,  and  was  almost  forced  to  exhibit  our  forms 
of  worship.  In  fact,  the  Romish  Church  in  some  of  these  countries  has  touched 
bottom,  and  I  am  sure  her  reformation  might  be  effected." 


858  THE   ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

face  of  opposition,  is  endeared  to  its  advocates  in  proportion  to  the 
peril  they  incur,  or  the  difficulties  and  toil  of  the  defense.  From 
the  present  aspect  of  things,  however,  in  America,  the  necessary 
influence  of  the  principles  to  which  I  have  alluded,  and  the  rigid 
discipline  and  peculiar  nature  of  Popery,  it  is  reasonable  to  enter- 
tain the  apprehension  I  have  expressed,  that  in  the  course  of  time 
the  government  of  the  country  will  be  in  the  hands  of  the  Roman- 
ists. Such  a  supremacy  presupposes  no  previous  change  in  the 
Constitution  which  has  already  ordained  that  the  majority  is  to 
rule ;  so  soon  as  they  constitute  the  majority  the  sole  power  be- 
longs to  them  as  a  matter  of  right.  Until  then,  they  must  con- 
tent themselves  with  exercising,  as  they  now  do,  a  controlling  in- 
fluence over  the  officers,  of  the  State. 

The  next  great  change  was  in  the  right  direction.  From  the 
loss  of  the  charter  in  1684  to  the  Revolution,  during  which  time 
Massachusetts  was  compelled  to  receive  her  governor  from  En- 
gland, the  Legislature  never  would  settle  a  permanent  salary  upon 
him,  but  endeavored  to  worry  or  starve  him  into  compliance  with 
their  views.  A  large  portion  of  the  struggle  I  have  related  be- 
tween that  functionary  and  the  democratic  party,  consisted  of  petty 
and  undignified  contests  on  this  subject.  As  soon  as  they  made 
and  adopted  a  Constitution  for  themselves,  they  abandoned  the 
practice,  and  thus  unconsciously  condemned  their  past  conduct. 
The  preamble  to  the  clause  regulating  this  matter  is  as  follows  : 

"  As  the  public  good  requires  that  the  governor  should  not  be 
under  the  undue  influence  of  any  of  the  members  of  the  General 
Court  by  a  dependence  on  them  for  his  support,  that  he  should  in 
all  cases,  act  with  freedom  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  ;  that  he 
should  not  have  his  attention  necessarily  diverted  from  that  object 
to  his  private  concerns,  and  that  he  should  maintain  the  dignity 
of  the  Commonwealth  in  the  character  of  its  chief  magistrate,  it 
is  necessary  he  should  have  an  honorable  and  stated  salary  of  a 
fixed  and  permanent  value,  amply  sufficient  for  these  purposes, 
and  established  by  standing  laws.  And  it  shall  be  among  the  first 
acts  of  the  General  Court,  after  the  commencement  of  this  con- 
stitution, to  establish  such  salary  by  law  accordingly." 

Similar  language  is  used  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States  as  regards  the  President.  By  article  second,  section  first, 
it  is  provided  that  the  President  shall,  at  stated  times,  receive 
for  his  services  a  compensation  which  shall  neither  be  increased 


THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA.  359 

nor  diminished  during  the  period  for  which  he  shall  have  been 
elected,  and  he  shall  not  receive  within  that  period  any  other 
emolument  from  the  United  States  or  any  of  them.  The  judges 
had  also  been  involved  in  the  same  uncertainty  and  difficulty 
about  their  salaries.  The  duties  of  the  judiciary,  though  they 
may  claim  respect,  neither  can  nor  ought  to  attract  popularity. 
A  judge  is  a  terror  to  evil  doers,  and  in  times  of  excitement,  when 
the  ferment  of  the  public  indicates  the  approach  of  a  rebellion, 
one  of  the  first  symptoms  of  danger  is  the  attempt  to  overawe  or 
overthrow  the  bench.  The  last  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts, 
under  the  royal  government,  an  old  and  faithful  servant  of  the 
Crown  and  the  colony,  on  account  of  his  conservative  opinions, 
narrowly  escaped  with  his  life  from  the  fury  of  the  mob,  who 
first  plundered  his  house  of  his  money  and  plate,  and  then  de- 
stroyed what  they  could  not  remove,  in  one  general  conflagra- 
tion. 

In  Canada  the  rebellion  was  ushered  in  by  continued  slanders, 
unprovoked  attacks,  and  finally,  unjust  impeachments  of  the 
highest  officers  of  the  court.  They  who  are  bent  upon  mischief 
generally  attempt  first  to  loosen  the  bonds  of  society  by  weaken- 
ing the  authority  of  the  bench  and  lowering  it  in  the  estimation 
of  the  community.  In  Massachusetts,  at  the  same  time  that 
they  made  a  fixed  provision  for  their  governor,  they  also  resolved 
"  that  permanent  and  honorable  salaries  be  established  by  law 
for  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court."  The  judiciary 
of  the  United  States,  as  we  have  seen,  is  its  sheet  anchor.  Its 
power  is  far  greater  than  that  of  England,  and  its  practice  far 
better  than  that  of  France.  The  decrees  of  the  Supreme  Coun- 
cil are  final,  the  legislature  possessing  no  appellate  jurisdiction  as 
in  Great  Britain.  It  respects  the  common  law,  and  its  own  pre- 
vious decisions,  which  is  not  the  practice  in  France,  where  a 
judgment  governs  the  suit  only  in  which  it  is  given,  but  fixes 
no  rule  obligatory  upon  others  in  similar  cases  ;  while  in  learning, 
ability,  and  integrity,  the  judges  are  not  surpassed  by  those  of 
any  other  country  in  the  world.  The  power  intrusted  to  them 
is  immense,  and  not  only  requires  the  exercise  of  all  those  high 
qualities  to  which  I  have  referred,  but  great  caution  and  consum- 
mate prudence,  as  well  as  firmness  and  decision  of  character. 
To  evince  the  least  desire  to  extend  their  jurisdiction  would  jeop- 
ardize all  that  has  been  intrusted  to  them  ;  to  surrender  any 


360  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

part  of  it  would  tempt  aggression,  and  produce  those  very  conflicts 
it  is  their  interest  and  duty  to  avoid.  No  men  can  be  better  fit- 
ted for  this  difficult  and  delicate  task,  and  they  are  justly  entitled 
to  all  that  respect,  obedience,  and  veneration  so  fully  and  freely 
conceded  to  them  by  a  reflecting,  intelligent,  and  grateful  people. 

Their  mode  of  appointment  I  have  already  described ;  it  is 
infinitely  more  honorable  than  that  pursued  in  England,  and 
incomparably  superior  to  that  which  imperial  folly,  ignorance,  or 
negligence  has  permitted  the  politicians  of  Canada  to  adopt ;  and 
it  is  impossible  to  conceive  a  plan  more  admirably  well  suited  to 
secure  a  good  selection,  than  that  of  the  Americans.  The  reader 
will  remember,  it  is  an  adoption  of  this  course,  or  a  close  imita- 
tion of  it,  that  I  have  recommended  for  the  distribution  of  the 
patronage  in  Canada,  for  nothing  can  be  so  ruinous,  either  to 
the  respectability  of  the  bar,  or  to  the  efficiency  of  the  bench,  in 
small  provinces,  as  to  make  a  seat  on  the  latter  dependent  upon 
violent  partisan  conduct,  or  coarse  popularity,  instead  of  eminence 
in  the  profession. 

In  England,  we  have  seen  that  Parliament  is  supreme  :  it  can 
alter,  amend,  enlarge,  or  abridge  the  constitution  as  it  sees  fit. 
In  the  United  States,  Congress  has  no  such  authority.  It  has  a 
certain  delegated  power,  it  can  neither  extend  nor  restrict.  Any 
such  change  must  be  submitted  to  the  people  at  large  in  the 
separate  States  ;  consequently  the  validity  of  an  Act  of  Congress, 
or  of  a  State  Government,  and  its  constitutionality,  is  the  subject 
of  adjudication  in  the  Supreme  Court,  as  well  as  the  limits  of 
their  respective  jurisdiction.  The  power  to  enforce  its  judgments 
is  not  so  strong  as  is  desirable,  and  rests  mainly  on  public  opinion, 
and  a  love  of  order  and  of  law  in  the  citizens.  Hitherto  this  has 
been  found  adequate  for  the  purpose.  Whether,  when  the  popu- 
lation and  territory  of  the  country  shall  have  been  still  further 
augmented,  and  contests  of  an  exciting  nature  between  the  States 
themselves  shall  arrive,  it  will  continue  to  be  supported  and 
obeyed,  as  it  has  hitherto  been,  is  a  problem  not  now  necessary 
to  discuss.  Every  friend  to  national  freedom  and  good  govern- 
ment, must  hope  for  such  a  desirable  result. 

Having  taken  this  short  review  of  the  subject,  two  questions 
will  naturally  present  themselves  to  the  European  reader.  1st. 
Can  such  a  republican  government,  or  any  thing  resembling  it, 
be  introduced,  with  any  hope  of  success,  in  England  ?  2d.  Is  it 


THE    ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA.  361 

at  all  applicable  to  France  ?  I  do  not  propose  to  enter  fully  into 
these/ subjects,  for  the  reasons  already  assigned,  but  shall  as  briefly 
as  possible  state  a  few  of  the  reasons  that  in  my  mind  are  con 
elusive  against  any  such  experiments.  First,  as  to  England : 

In  Great  Britain  there  is  doubtless  a  large  republican  party, 
composed  of  Chartists  (a  set  of  people  not  very  distinguished  for 
their  intelligence)  ;  Radicals  (one  remove  above  their  level  in 
station  and  means,  but  far  below  them  in  honesty) ;  Political 
Dissenters  (who  have  already  made  one  attempt  at  a  republic, 
and  showed  that  they  regard  the  scaffold  and  confiscation,  with 
a  true  Christian  spirit,  as  the  means  of  testifying  their  love  of 
their  neighbors,  and  a  just  regard  for  the  distribution  of  their 
intestate  estates)  ;  Irish  Romanists  (whose  object  is  the  removal 
of  Protestants,  and  the  substitution  of  Papal  ascendency) ;  and  a 
large  portion  of  the  manufacturing  laborers,  whom  free  trade  has 
plunged  into  deplorable  poverty,  and  whose  passions  have  been 
inflamed  by  artful,  unprincipled  men.  There  is  also  a  motley 
group  of  adventurers  and  amateur  aristocratic  politicians,  who 
rest  on  these  masses  for  support,  affect  to  advance  democracy,  and 
play  with  it,  as  a  tub  to  amuse  the  whale.  There  is  nothing  in 
such  an  assembly  of  craft  or  cant,  of  ignorance  or  vice,  to  win 
the  support  of  honest  men,  while  there  is  much  to  alarm  the 
reflecting  mind.  Every  enlargement  of  the  franchise  is  a  down- 
ward step  toward  democracy,  while  each  successive  stage  is 
progressively  more  precipitous,  and  the  gulf  hitherto  hidden  in 
the  distance  is  now  plainly  exposed  to  view.  The  landed  pro- 
prietor, the  main  support  of  the  monarchy,  is  rapidly  losing  hit, 
influence,  with  the  decrease  of  his  means,  and  his  tenants  unable 
to  compete  in  the  market  with  foreigners,  call  for  a  further  re- 
duction of  rents,  and  a  greater  expenditure  of  capital,  or  threaten 
to  migrate  to  America,  where  protective  laws  are  in  force,  and 
likely  to  remain  so,  on  a  principle  of  prudence,  that  "  Charity 
begins  at  home ;"  and  a  maxim  of  necessity,  that  "  Self  preserva- 
tion is  the  first  law  of  nature ;"  two  fundamental  rules  worth  all 
the  sophistry  of  Sir  Robert  Peel,  the  declamation  of  Cobden,  or 
the  driveling  of  platform  orators. 

On  the  other  hand,  one  consideration  of  great  magnitude  is, 
that  Great  Britain  is  not  a  country  where  such  a  change  will  be 
tamely  submitted  to.  An  Englishman  is  made  of  sterner  stuff, 
than  to  surrender  his  rights  without  a  struggle.  What  that  con- 

Q 


362  THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA. 

test  will  be  \ve  know  by  experience,  and  shudder  when  we  think 
of  it.  The  throne  and  the  altar  must  first  be  overthrown,  the 
peerage  abolished,  hereditary  descent  of  land  and  title  abrogated, 
and  the  whole  frame-work  of  society  first  broken  to  pieces,  and  a 
new  one  reconstructed,  and  set  up  in  its  place.  All  this  we  have 
seen  that  the  Americans  were  not  called  upon  to  do  ;  and,  with- 
out repeating  one's  self,  it  may  in  general  be  said,  that  in  each 
and  every  respect,  in  which  England  differs  from  the  condition  of 
the  old  colonies  in  1783,  that  variance  constitutes  an  argument 
against  the  experiment.  The  nation  is  blessed  or  encumbered, 
as  wise  or  foolish  people  may  consider  it,  with  all  these  monar- 
chical institutions,  feelings,  and  associations.  It  has  not  the 
room  for  the  expansion  the  United  States  had ;  nor  its  general 
education ;  nor  its  democratic  institutions  ready  formed ;  nor  a 
people  fitted  for  self-government ;  nor  the  elements  of  amalgama- 
tion in  its  population. 

America  was  prepared  for  her  republic  from  her  earliest  child- 
hood ;  trained,  educated  and  practiced  in  democracy,  and  knew  of 
nothing  else  but  by  report.  How  widely  spread,  how  deeply  laid, 
how  well  constituted,  must  those  institutions  have  been,  to  have 
enabled  her  to  receive  the  countless  thousands  of  the  lowest  refuse 
of  European  ignorance  and  degradation,  without  injury  or  danger. 
But  she  had  room  for  them,  they  were  not  shut  up  in  cities  to 
engender  fears  and  famine ;  but  were  consigned  at  once  to  the 
canals,  railroads,  tunnels,  mines,  bridges,  and  other  public  and 
private  works,  which  engrossed  and  required  the  whole  labor  of 
the  people.  If  this  stream  of  immigration  had  been  limited  to  one 
channel  it  would  have  burst  its  bounds,  and  submerged  a  whole 
State.  It  was  wisely  diffused  over  the  entire  country,  and  was 
instantly  absorbed  like  a  summer's  shower.  England,  on  the 
contrary,  is  filled  to  the  brim,  and'  has  opened  every  sluice  of 
emigration,  to  relieve  herself  of  her  redundant  population. 

It  has  been  objected  to  America  that  some  of  her  States  have 
repudiated  their  debts.  Selfishness  is  an  evil  inseparable  from 
democracy,  and  when  the  responsibility  of  a  public  act  falls  on  a 
whole  people,  the  sense  of  wrong  is  lost  in  the  infinity  of  numbers  ; 
quicquid  multis  peccatur  imdtum.  But  does  any  rational  man 
suppose  if  a  republic  were  formed  in  England,  or  if  any  great 
extension  of  the  franchise1  were  to  take  place,  that  one  of  the  first 
acts  of  the  legislature  would  not  be  to  expunge  the  National  Debt  ? 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  363 

In  this  respect  Great  Britain  is  behind  America.*  In  the 
former  (judging  by  the  deterioration  in  the  character  of  its  legis- 
lation since  the  introduction  of  the  Reform  and  Manchester  bills), 
an  equal  extension  of  the  franchise  would  in  all  human  proba- 
bility be  productive  of  this  disastrous  and  dishonest  act.  In 
America  (whatever  has  been  the  behavior  of  individual  States, 
and  we  have  seen  that  the  tendency  in  them  is  to  retrograde,  no 
apprehension  has  ever  been  entertained  that  Congress  would  be 
guilty  of  such  iniquitous  conduct. 

Whether  a  republican  government  can  subsist  even  in  America, 
with  any  sufficient  guarantee  for  the  safety  of  property,  or  the 
protection  of  a  minority,  when  her  large  cities  shall  be  filled  with 
pauperism,  and  the  arable  and  available  land  between  the  Alle- 
ghanies  and  the  Atlantic  shall  have  been  occupied  and  subdivided 
by  a  redundant  population,  is,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  a  matter  of 
doubt ;  but  that  it  can  never  be  made  to  work  harmoniously  in  a 
country  like  Great  Britain,  with  her  enormous  masses  of  poverty 
and  ignorance,  is  apparent  to  every  practical  man.  There  is  no 
light  strong  enough  to  penetrate  these  dark  regions,  and  the 
temptation  presented  by  the  vast  inequality  in  the  distribution  of 
wealth,  is  too  strong  for  destitution  to  preserve  its  honesty.  Nor 
is  such  a  change  needed.  America  had  no  choice ;  she  had 
never  known  any  thing  but  self-government,  and  there  was  no- 
thing in  her  elements  congenial  to  monarchy.  No  other  practi- 
cable alternative  was  presented  to  her  ;  it  was  the  only  one  suit- 
able to  her  social  or  political  state.  It  was  an  inevitable  neces- 
sity, and  was  submitted  to  as  such  ;  and  at  the  same  time  unani- 
mously adopted,  cherished,  and  lauded,  as  an  inestimable  bless- 
ing ;  there  were  not  two  opinions  on  the  subject ;  it  was  not  a 
triumph  over  monarchy,  for  that  had  never  a  root  in  the  country. 
It  was  not  a  refuge  from  anarchy,  for  there  was  no  period  in 

*  Some  years  ago,  I  revisited  England  after  a  very  long  absence,  and,  as  is 
usual  with  colonists,  being  anxious  to  hear  the  debates  in  Parliament,  went  to 
the  House  of  Commons  as  soon  as  possible.  In  the  course  of  the  evening,  1 
asked  a  stranger  who  was  sitting  near  me,  the  name  of  the  person  then  address- 
ing the  house.  Surveying  me  with  unfeigned  astonishment,  he  replied,  "  May  I 
ask,  sir,  where  you  can  possibly  come  from,  who  put  such  a  question  to  me  as 
that  ?"  Having  satisfied  him  upon  that  point,  he  said,  with  much  animation, 
"  That  is  Sir  Robert  Peel,  sir ;  look  at  the  large  body  of  gentlemen  that  support 
him,  and  then  cast  your  eyes  on  the  rubbish  on  the  other  side  of  the  house." 
Alas !  that  this  honorable  connection  should  have  been  dissolved  a  few  days 
after  I  become  acquainted  with  my  informant.  It  was  the  lat«  Horace  Twiss. 


364  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

which  law  was  subverted  ;  it  was  not  the  act  of  a  majority  com- 
pelling obedience  from  the  dissentients,  for  it  never  was  made  a 
question,  or  admitted  of  a  doubt,  or  had  been  debated  upon.  It 
was  an  indigenous  plant  that  had  arrived  at  maturity ;  the  cli- 
mate and  country  favored  its  growth ;  the  fruit  was  agreeable  to 
the  eye  and  to  the  palate  ;  the  natives  had  ever  been  accustomed 
to  it,  and  they  cultivated  it  universally.  Nothing  of  the  kind 
exists  in  England.  A  noxious  weed  of  a  different  species,  but 
bearing  the  same  name,  has  been  sown,  and  ought  to  be  extir- 
pated in  time. 

In  America,  where  the  people  are  distinguished  for  their  sound 
practical  common  sense,  if  a  man  were  to  attempt  to  recommend 
for  adoption  a  monarchical  form  of  government,  in  all  probability 
he  would  fail  of  obtaining  an  audience  ;  and  if  not,  he  would  at 
the  conclusion  of  his  harangue  either  be  secured  as  a  lunatic,  or 
punished  as  a  traitor.  In  like  manner,  strolling  politicians  who 
advocate  democracy  in  a  monarchy  like  England,  not  only  are 
bad  subjects,  but  infinitely  more  dangerous  than  those  to  whom 
I  have  just  alluded  ;  for  the  people  to  whom  they  address  them- 
selves are  vastly  inferior  in  intelligence  and  love  of  country  to  the 
Americans,  and  lend  a  willing  ear  to  their  seductions,  and,  if  need 
be,  would  lend  a  willing  arm  to  assist  in  carrying  out  their  theo- 
ries. The  present  form  of  mixed  government  is  the  only  one  at 
all  suitable  to  England.  If  the  monarchical  principle  were 
stronger,  it  would  be  inconsistent  with  liberty  ;  if  the  democratic 
elements  were  enlarged,  it  would  become  too  powerful  for  harmo- 
nious action,  and  endanger  the  whole  machinery.  Much  as  we 
may  applaud  the  wisdom  and  skill  of  the  great  American  states- 
men, who  devised  the  checks  in  their  Constitution,  and  much  as 
we  may  admire  its  adaptation  to  the  people  and  circumstances 
under  which  they  were  placed,  no  impartial  politician  or  sound 
statesman,  whatever  may  be  his  country,  but  must  admit  that  it 
is  infinitely  inferior  to  that  of  England. 

In  many  essential  points,*  the  English  legislature  is  further 

*  Tacitus  has  recorded  his  admiration  of  the  theory  of  such  a  government  as 
that  of  Great  Britain,  but  questions  the  practicability,  as  he  well  might,  of  its 
successful  ope'ration.  The  very  doubt  shows  his  wisdom.  A  people  must 
gradually  arrive  at  such  a  result,  for  it  must  grow  with  its  growth.  A  ready- 
made  constitution  can  suit  no  people  in  the  world.  Wherever  it  has  been  tried, 
it  has  failed.  That  of  the  United  States,  when  copied  in  Mexico,  disappointed 
expectation.  A  Spanish  population  was  not  fitted  for  it,  nor  was  it  congenial 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  365 

removed  from  the  popular  action  of  the  masses,  and  is  more  inde- 
pendent in  its  deliberation,  than  the  American  ;  while  the  execu- 
tive is  more  vigorous,  more  capable  of  a  long-sustained  struggle, 
and  at  the  same  time  the  minority  is  better  secured  and  defended. 
Property  is  represented  in  Parliament  as  well  as  numbers,  and 
the  various  orders,  without  which  no  community  ever  can  be 
either  refined  or  agreeable,  are  preserved,  protected,  or  supported. 
The  effect  of  monarchy  on  the  state  of  society  is  directly  the 
reverse  of  republicanism ;  instead  of  depressing,  it  elevates  its 
tone.  It  adds  grace  to  beauty,  polish  to  wit,  ease  to  conversa- 
tion, and  elegance  to  letters ;  it  adorns  all  that  it  touches ;  and 
who  shall  despise  the  influence  and  even  the  value  of  fashion  ? 
It  has  its  own  laws  as  well  as  the  state,  and  rigidly  enforces 
them ;  but  it  is  no  leveler.  It  has  no  republican  pride,  that 
disdains  to  acknowledge  a  superior,  and  yet  avails  itself  of  the 
possession  of  gold  to  inflict  on  others  a  feeling  of  inferiority ;  it 
gives  place  and  honor  to  rank  and  virtue,  and  countenance  and 
encouragement  to  timid  or  retiring  merit.  It  is  unselfish,  it 
yields  to  all  to  captivate  all.  It  has  no  argument,  no  politics,  no 
schisms.  Its  very  mirth  is  gentle.  It  is  gay,  but  not  boisterous ; 
playful,  but  not  personal ;  scrupulous  but  not  captious.  It  in- 
vests social  intercourse  with  a  charm.  It  limits  and  defines  with 
precise  accuracy  and  delicate  shading  the  various  minute  difier- 
ences  that  always  exist  in  society,  and  assigns  with  equal  skill 
and  impartiality,  to  rank,  reputation,  and  talent,  their  respective 
places.  Social  circles  are  all  concentric,  but  of  various  extent 
and  circumference,  in  proportion  as  they  become  more  and  more 
distant  from  the  centre  ;  they  touch  closely  on  each  other,  and 
yet  leave  room  for  independent  action  ;  they  are  nearly  assimila- 
ted, and  yet  sufficiently  distinct  to  admit  of  a  selection  that  best 
suits  the  income  or  the  taste  of  those  who  prefer  to  associate  on 
a  footing  of  perfect  equality ;  while,  at  the  same  time,  many  of 
those  that  precede  or  follow  each  other  are  so  nearly  blended 
together,  that  it  requires  some  discrimination  to  say  where  one 

to  them.  The  hesitation  of  Tacitus  is  equivalent  to  his  praise,  and  both  ex- 
hibit unmistakable  evidence  of  his  discernment  and  judgment :  "  Cunctas  na- 
tiones,"  he  says,  "et  urbes,  populus,  aut  priores,  aut  singuli  regunt.  Dilecta  ex 
his  et  constitnta  reipublicse  forma,  laudari  facilius  quam  inveniri;  vel  si  evenit, 
haud  diuturna  esse  potest"  (Ann.  Lib.  iv).  Cicero  arrived  at  the  same  conclu- 
sion :  "  Statuo  esse  optime  constitutam  rempublicam,  qua3  ex  tribus  generibui 
illis,  regali,  optimo,  et  populari,  modice  confusa." 


366  THE    ENGLISH    IX   AMERICA. 

ends  and  the  other  begins.  Where  all  men  are  politically,  they  soon 
become  practically  equal,  and  equality  demands  mutual  sacrifice. 
The  yeoman  endeavors  to  accommodate  himself  to  the  usages  of 
life,  and  the  man  of  the  world  and  the  gentleman  relinquishes  his 
polish,  to  obliterate  all  trace  of  superiority.  When  such  is  the 
case,  distinction  must  be  sought  where  it  can  alone  be  found — in 
wealth.  Republican  life,  wherever  it  exists,  is  typified  in  Cali- 
fornia. Toil,  premature  danger,  and  exile  are  endured  by  the 
gold-digger;  and  when  the  fortune  is  amassed,  and -the  distin- 
guished man  returns  to  his  home,  his  happiness  is  blasted,  for 
envy  has  found  that  his  manners  and  morals  have  not  been  im- 
proved by  his  associates,  that  his  constitution  is  impaired,  ana 
that  there  are  others  still  richer  than  himself.  Wealth  can  do  a 
vast  deal  in  England,  and  furnishes  a  convenient  cloak  where- 
with to  conceal  infirmities.  And  where  does  it  not  work  won- 
ders? But  there  is  much  in  society  in  England  that  wealth 
is  unable  to  effect,  that  it  does  and  ever  will  accomplish  in  re- 
publics. 

The  second  inquiry  is :  Is  it  suitable  to  France  ?  That  un- 
happy country  had,  by  its  previous  revolution,  removed  all  those 
obstacles  that  nature  and  antiquity  had  reared  up  in  the  form  of 
legal  institutions,  and  which  still  exist  in  England.  They  were 
not  merely  overthrown,  they  were  annihilated.  Every  thing  had 
been  reduced  to  a  level.  But  the  same  whirlwind  of  the  passions 
that  had  overwhelmed  order,  religion,  and  virtue  in  one  common 
wreck,  proved  too  powerful  for  the  partly-constituted  and  badly- 
planned  republican  edifice,  erected  on  the  ruins  of  the  monarchy. 
No  sooner  had  the  storm  subsided  into  a  comparative  calm,  and 
men  had  time  to  look  about  them,  than  it  was  discovered  to  have 
been  built  on  no  solid  foundation,  and  it  was  abandoned  to  its  in- 
evitable fate ;  military  despotism,  the  last  refuge  of  anarchy,  being 
substituted  in  its  place.  *Its  effect  was  not  to  restore  order,  but 
to  divert  the  fury  of  the  people  from  themselves,  and  direct  it 
against  other  nations.  Nearly  every  country  in  continental 
Europe  has  been  deluged  by  blood,  or  devastated  by  fire  and 
sword,  to  spread  the  fraternity  of  liberty,  and  diffuse  the  inestima- 
ble blessing  of  having  no  God,  no  king,  and  obeying  no  law  but 
the  free  and  unbridled  rule  of  animal  instinct  or  passion,  which 
has  been  deified  and  worshiped  under  the  specious  name  of  reason, 
or  the  immutable  right  of  man.  After  these  destructive  and 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  367 

ruinous  wars  had  ceased,  and  the  belligerents  laid  down  their 
arms  in  utter  exhaustion,  people  soon  found  they  could  not  subsist 
without  industry,  and  that  food,  though  a  vulgar  consideration, 
was  necessary  even  to  the  enjoyment  of  rights.  The  productions 
of  labor  require  the  protection  of  law,  but  that  presupposes  a  certain 
degree  of  order,  without  which  it  is  a  dead  letter.  Disorder  and 
law  can  never  be  co-equal,  or  the  struggle  will  be  too  violent  for 
public  tranquillity.  The  latter  must  be  by  far  the  strongest ;  it 
then  coerces  by  the  weight,  rather  than  the  exercise  of  its  au- 
thority ;  it  should  be  every  where  felt,  but  nowhere  seen.  It  must 
be  passive  until  put  into  motion ;  it  then  hears,  deliberates,  and 
decides.  Its  assistance  must  be  invoked.  It  aids  the  oppressed ; 
it  defends  the  innocent ;  it  punishes  the  guilty.  But  it  is  power- 
less of  itself:  like  every  thing  else,  it  is  correlative.  Reason  and 
wisdom  are  insufficient  for  its  support ;  it  requires  the  sanction 
of  religion.  In  the  investigation  of  truth,  resort  must  be  had  to 
testimony.  But  man  is  an  erring  being ;  his  impartiality  and 
veracity  are  riot  always  to  be  depended  upon  with  implicit  confi- 
dence ;  he  must  be  placed  under  the  solemn  obligation  of  an  oath. 
But  if  he  do  not  believe  in  the  state  of  future  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments, if  he  is  not  an  accountable  being,  you  have  no  hold 
upon  him  ;  he  eludes  your  grasp,  and  "bears  false  witness  against 
his  neighbor." 

A  return  to  a  state  of  peace  afforded  leisure  for  reflection,  and 
the  work  of  reconstruction  commenced.  The  monarchy  was 
again  restored.  The  hierarchy  resumed  its  functions,  and  the 
nobility  their  place  and  their  duties ;  much  that  was  new  was 
added  to  the  old  structure,  which,  with  equal  good  taste,  and 
sound  judgment,  was  finished  in  the  same  antique  style.  France 
recovered  most  wonderfully  from  the  wounds  inflicted  on  herself 
in  the  fury  and  convulsions  of  her  delirious  fever-  Her  finances 
were  improved,  her  commerce  flourished,  and  her  agriculture 
and  manufactures  were  reanimated.  But  alas !  a  few  short 
rfonths  are  sufficient  to  demolish  the  work  of  centuries ;  and  in 
the  general  wreck  produced  by  a  moral  earthquake,  there  must 
inevitably  be  many  things  irretrievably  lost,  or  destroyed.  You 
may  substitute  others  equally  costly,  and  to  the  unpracticed  eye 
of  the  casual  observer,  apparently  far  more  valuable  ;  but  the 
family  portraits,  the  armor  of  our  ancestors,  the  trophies  of  their 
va1  f ,  the  prizes  of  their  learning  or  virtue,  the  tokens  and  tributes 


368  THE  ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA. 

of  private  friendships,  the  antique  relics  of  the  olden  time,  which 
gratified  and  purified  the  pride,  or  stimulated  or  sustained  the 
order  of  succeeding  generations,  who  successively  inherited  and 
occupied  the  old  mansion,  are  gone,  and  gone  forever.  A  public 
museum,  enriched  by  national  grants  and  private  contributions, 
may  contain  a  collection  infinitely  more  rich  and  rare,  and  its 
marketable  value  may  be  immeasurably  greater ;  but  who  is  there 
possessing  the  common  feelings  of  a  gentleman,  but  must  at  once 
perceive  that  while  the  one  merely  improves  the  judgment  and 
refines  the  taste,  the  other  connects  itself  with  all  the  affections 
of  the  human  heart  ?  When  the  restoration  was  decreed,  it  was 
found  easier  to  design  than  to  execute  the  task.  The  fragments 
of  the  monarchy  were  few  and  widely  dispersed.  An  old  man, 
unacquainted  with  public  life,  and  whose  privacy  had  been  de- 
voted to  pursuits  as  little  calculated  to  add  dignity  to  a  throne, 
as  to  engage  the  sympathies  of  a  people,  was  found  in  exile,  in  a 
foreign  land,  and  hastily  summoned  to  occupy  the  place  which 
had  been  filled  by  a  long  line  of  ancestors,  some  of  whom  had 
been  the  greatest,  wisest,  bravest,  and  most  illustrious  monarehs 
of  Europe.  A  few  decrepit  invalids  without  fortune,  or  experi- 
ence, other  than  that  which  had  been  learned  at  the  sacrifice  of 
every  comfort  (how  hard  the  lot  of  adversity  is  to  those,  who 
have  been  nurtured  in  luxury,  and  how  difficult  it  is  for  dignity 
to  clothe  itself  in  the  coarse  garb  of  poverty)  were  summoned 
from  every  part  of  Europe  and  America  to  take  their  seats  in  the 
House  of  Peers.  The  few  surviving  gentry,  whom  time  or  the 
guillotine  had  spared,  left  the  humble  vocations  to  which 
they  had  applied  themselves  for  their  daily  bread,  and  offer- 
ed their  congratulations  to  their  prince,  on  this  resumption  of 
his  rights,  accompanied  by  most  touching  appeals  to  his  feel- 
ings, for  a  similar  restoration  of  their  own.  The  clergy  came 
forth  from  their  hiding  places,  to  resume  empty  titles,*  which 
they  could  not  support ;  and  a  station  which,  by  contrast  with 

*  The  passage  refers  particularly  to  what  is  called  la  petite  Eglise,  Palmei 
informs  us  that  at  the  time  of  the  French  Revolution,  there  were  within  tho 
kingdom  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  bishoprics.  These,  together  with  twenty- 
four  in  Savoy  and  Germany  and  elsewhere,  making  a  total  of  one  hundred  and 
fifty-nine,  the  Pope,  at  the  bidding  of  Napoleon,  annihilated,  and  created  sixty 
new  ones  in  their  place.  The  owners  of  thirty-six  of  the  old  sees  refused  com- 
pliance with  the  Pontifical  mandate,  representing  it  as  clearly  contrary  to  all 
the  canons  of  the  Church  Catholic,  which  it  undoubtedly  was.  They  and  theif 


THE   ENGLISH   IN   AMERICA.  369 

their  means,  they  feared  would  attract  more  compassion  than  is 
compatible  with  dignity,  and  excite  more  ridicule  than  respect. 
Such  was  the  restoration.  It  was  decrepit  from  age,  and  imbe- 
cile from  poverty.  It  was  an  exhibition  of  the  galvanized  bodies 
of  a  departed  generation.  They  were  strangers  in  their  native 
land.  Every  thing  was  changed  but  their  language.  Thought, 
feeling,  fashion,  society,  tastes,  education,  hours,  entertainments ; 
all  that  they  had  known,  or  recollected,  or  valued.  The  people 
regarded  them  as  antiquated  masqueraders,  and  they  were  at  no 
pains  to  conceal  that  they  considered  the  Parisians  as  the  lees 
and  dregs  of  the  population,  after  the  best  blood  had  been  drawn 
off  arid  expended  in  the  rebellion. 

It  was  evident  to  all  that  monarchy  had  been  so  thoroughly 
exterminated,  that  it  was  now  an  exotic,  and  not  the  more  agree- 
able to  the  country  from  having  been  transplanted  by  foreign 
bayonets.  Although  the  people  had  applied  themselves  to  agri- 
culture and  commerce  with  great  zeal  and  success,  they  had  been 
too  long  accustomed  to  the  excitement  of  war,  and  the  intoxica 
tion  of  military  glory,  to  sustain  with  perseverance  the  laborious 
operations  of  the  arts  of  peace,  and  longed  for  the  return  of  Na- 
poleon to  lead  them  on  to  fresh  victories.  Impatient  of  repose  as 
well  as  themselves,  he  placed  himself  at  the  head  of  the  army, 
and  monarchy  was  again  overthrown.  Waterloo  imposed  Louis 
XVIII.  upon  the  nation  once  more,  and  a  further  attempt  was 
made  to  give  durability  to  the  throne.  Obedience  may  be  en- 
forced, but  no  power  on  earth  can  extort  affection.  His  restora- 
tion was  not  the  result  of  their  choice,  but  their  defeat ;  and  as 
his  presence  reminded  them  of  their  misfortune,  he  was  tolerated 
like  one  billeted  on  the  nation.  His  successor,  and  heir  to  the 
vcrown,  Charles  X.,  was  soon  afterward  escorted  to  the  frontier  by 

adherents  described  the  act  repeatedly,  and  informal  documents,  as  null,  illegal, 
and  unjust ;  and  the  new  prelates  were  declared  by  them  to  be  schismatic  in- 
truders, with  whom  they  could  not  communicate.  Hence  a  schism  in  the  Roman 
Church,  which  continues  to  this  day.  The  deprived  bishops  and  their  party  are 
termed  by  their  opponents  la  petite  Eglise.  In  the  new  order  of  things  that 
arose,  the  Church  became  entirely  dependent  on  the  Government.  The  bishops 
could  not  confer  orders  without  its  sanction.  Bonaparte  managed  every  thing 
as  he  thought  proper;  he  exercised  the  most  absolute  jurisdiction,  creating 
bishoprics,  uniting  or  suppressing  them.  This  system,  with  some  modifications, 
continues  to  this  day.  In  almost  every  country  in  Europe,  the  power  of  the 
Pope  is  controlled.  Perhaps  it  is  more  unlimited  in  Ireland  than  any  where  else. 
See  Hook's  Church  Diet.,  title  "Concordat." 

Q* 


370  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

a  guard  of  his  own  soldiers,  and  desired  to  depart  in  peace.  Mon- 
archy was  again  stripped  of  every  thing  but  its  name.  A  mem- 
ber of  the  ill-fated  house  of  Orleans  aspired,  and  was  selected,  to 
occupy  the  dangerous  station  of  hereditary  first  magistrate,  or 
president,  under  the  equally  unacceptable  title  to  the  neighbors 
and  allies  of  France,  of  Citizen  King.  Hereditary  rank  and 
estate  were  abolished,  and  a  republic,  with  a  limited  franchise 
and  restricted  qualifications  for  election,  was  established  in  its 
place.  It  was  a  compromise  between  retreating  royalty  and  ag- 
gressive democracy.  It  was  a  truce  between  two  irreconcilable 
parties.  A  long  exile  in  various  countries  had  not  taught  the 
king  either  humility  or  wisdom.  He  had  not  inherited  virtue 
from  his  father,  and  the  people  had  too  long  despised  and  derided 
it,  even  to  pay  it  an  outward  respect. 

They  prepared  a  charter,  and  both  swore  with  much  solemnity 
to  observe  its  provisions.  He  distrusted  their  sincerity,  and  forti- 
fied Paris,  under  the  ill-disguised  pretext  of  protecting  the  city, 
but  in  reality  to  curb  its  unruly  population.  Equally  treacher- 
ous, but  more  prudent,  they  on  their  part  increased  their  strength, 
by  constantly  recruiting  their  ranks,  until  they  were  even  power- 
ful enough  to  look  down  all  opposition. 

By  an  accidental  explosion  of  the  combustibles,  or  a  well- 
planned  train,  he  was  dethroned  before  he  knew  he  was  menaced. 
He  had  neither  time  for  retreat  nor  defense.  He  was  requested 
to  abdicate,  and  permitted  to  assume  a  disguise  and  leave  the 
kingdom.  In  this  ignoble  flight,  his  only  pursuers  were  his  own 
apprehensions,  and  the  only  escort  of  the  little  fragment  of  his 
family  that  adhered  to  him  were  his  own  reproaches. 

To  this  base  imitation  of  royalty  succeeded  the  foul  and  fecu- 
lent stream  of  democracy,  which,  crimson  with  the  blood  of  an- 
other massacre,  second  only  to  that  of  the  Huguenots,  every 
where  exhaled  its  noxious  vapors,  that  threatened  to  poison  the 
whole  moral  atmosphere  of  Europe.  Such  is  the  country  in 
which  this  great  experiment  is  to  be  tried,  of  a  republic  based 
upon  universal  suffrage.  Pre-existing  monarchy,  and  its  accom- 
panying institutions,  we  have  seen,  present  no  obstacle,  as  they 
would  necessarily  do  in  England.  If  democracy  were  not  the 
original  growth  of  the  country,  as  it  was  in  America,  it  is  now  as 
generally  diffused ;  and  it  is  a  very  singular  circumstance  how 
opposite  principles,  when  carried  to  their  full  extent,  produce 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  371 

similar  results.  Nothing  can  be  wider  apart  than  Puritanism 
and  Infidelity,  nothing  more  unlike  than  their  principles  and 
general  conduct.  The  one  believes  most  devoutly  what  the 
other  denies  and  ridicules.  They  have  a  natural  antipathy,  and 
entertain  a  mutual  horror  of  each  other;  and  yet  their  conduct 
affords,  by  its  consequences,  an  apt  illustration  of  the  old  proverb, 
that  "extremes  meet."  The  one  believes  in  a  Supreme  Being, 
whom  he  acknowledges  and  adores,  but  his  imagination  is  so 
gloomy,  and  his  temper  so  austere,  he  can  see  no  attribute  in 
him  but  that  of  vengeance.  He  believes  in  a  Saviour,  but  he 
can  behold  nothing  in  him  but  redemption  purchased  by  blood. 
His  devotion,  therefore,  though  intense,  is  cold.  He  applies  to  his 
Maker  for  justice.  He  has  but  a  faint  conception  of  mercy,  and 
being  well  satisfied  with  his  own  holiness,  thinks  that  he  who  never 
offends,  does  not  stand  in  need  of  indulgence.  Unbending  stern- 
ness, and  unrelenting  duty,  are  what  he  values  and  strives  to  ex- 
hibit. He  sees  no  harm,  therefore,  in  arraigning  his  king,  trying, 
convicting,  and  executing  him  ;  and  to  show  his  impartiality,  he 
will  not  spare  a  prelate,  who  is  a  servant  of  God,  when  he  has 
slain  him  whom,  in  mockery  of  his  prerogative,  he  calls  "the 
servant  of  the  people."  That  he  is  sincere  in  believing  this  to 
be  the  path  of  duty,  we  can  scarcely  doubt,  otherwise  he  would 
hardly  glory  in  it,  and  thank  his  Maker  for  using  him  as  an  in- 
strument for  executing  His  vengeance.  The  Puritans  derived  a 
holy  pleasure  from  this  pious  work  ;  and  when  they  fled  to  Mas- 
sachusetts, refreshed  their  drooping  spirits  in  the  wilderness  by 
cropping  the  ears  of  Tories,  and  boring  the  tongues  of  Quakers, 
whipping  non-conformists,  and  hanging  people  under  the  pretense 
that  they  were  witches.  They  had  over  two  hundred  victims  in 
jail,  as  we  have  seen,  wherewith  to  gratify  their  zeal  in  counter- 
acting the  designs  of  the  wicked  one,  when  a  stop  was  put  to 
their  atrocious  inhumanities. 

The  French  philosophers  produced  the  same  result  by  an  op- 
posite process.  The  fool  mentioned  in  Scripture,  who  "  said  in 
his  heart,  there  is  no  God,"  had  at  least  the  decency  to  confine 
his  thoughts  to  his  own  bosom.  The  literati,  with  equal  folly, 
but  more  vanity,  published  this  discovery  to  the  whole  world, 
and  it  was  not  difficult  to  obtain  converts  in  a  hungry  mob,  who 
were  paid  for  their  credulity  by  the  property  of  the  Crown,  and 
the  revenues  of  the  Church.  When  booty  is  obtained  without 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

the  danger  of  resistance,  or  the  fear  of  punishment,  the  appetite 
for  treasure,  so  easily  obtained,  grows  with  the  gratification,  and 
the  plunder  of  royalty  was  too  tempting  an  opportunity  to  be 
lost.  The  death  of  the  king  was  necessary ;  but,  according  tc 
their  reasoning,  it  ought  to  startle  none.  He  was  but  a  man ; 
and,  besides,  he  was  a  criminal.  If  there  was  no  future  state  of 
rewards  and  punishment,  his  life  or  death  was  not  worth  the 
waste  of  one  precious  moment  of  so  short  an  existence.  But  if 
there  were,  they  must  still  be  right ;  for  one  of  the  most  rigid 
Protestant  sects  in  Europe,  called  Puritans,  men  of  the  strictest 
morals  and  the  highest  sense  of  justice,  had  set  them  the  exam- 
ple. Although  I  do  not  mean  to  confound  these  two  parties,  who 
so  widely  differed  from  each  other,  yet  it  is  instructive  to  inquire 
how  they  were  both  led  to  the  same  fatal  conduct.  An  over- 
weening pride  in  each  was  beyond  a  doubt  the  main  cause.  The 
Puritans  satisfied  themselves  they  were  the  best,  and  the  infidels 
that  they  were  the  wisest  of  mankind.  The  one  left  the  mild 
and  meek  virtues  of  love,  charity,  and  submissive  obedience  to 
the  care  of  females,  and  reserved  the  more  masculine  and  sterner 
duties  to  themselves ;  while  the  others  transferred  the  Christian 
Trinity  to  the  heathen  mythology,  and  regarded  both  in  the  same 
light — as  the  inventions  of  ignorance,  superstition,  and  fraud. 
The  one  had  morals,  respected  the  rights  of  property,  maintained 
order,  and  enjoined  or  enforced  frugality,  industry,  and  sobriety 
of  conduct ;  the  others  abandoned  themselves  to  sensual  enjoy- 
ments, respected  neither  life,  property,  nor  laws,  and  relaxed  or 
released  the  bonds  of  society.  The  one  gave  a  preference  to  a 
democratic  over  a  monarchical  constitution,  and  a  Congregational 
to  an  Episcopal  Church,  and  put  their  favorite  theories  into  prac- 
tice ;  the  other  subverted  all  government,  and  all  religion.  They 
were  both  hypocrites  after  their  own  fashion ;  the  one  quoting 
Scripture  as  a  pretext  for  rebellion  and  murder ;  the  other  affect- 
ing to  consult  the  oracles  of  reason,  in  order  to  give  currency  to 
their  frauds,  falsehoods,  and  forgeries.  That  there  was  much  in 
the  conduct  of  the  court,  the  institutions,  and  the  management  of 
the  finances  of  France  to  amend,  there  can  be  no  doubt  :  but 
that  a  revolution  was  necessary  to  effect  these  reforms,  or  that 
they  were  as  vicious  as  has  been  represented,  no  one  now  believes, 
but  those  who  delight  and  thrive  in  all  civil  commotions.  But 
if  the  king  was  undeserving  of  the  cruelty,  indignity,  and  death 


THE  ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  373 

that  he  suffered  at  the  hands  of  his  atheistical  subjects,  what 
shall  he  said  of  the  unrelenting  persecutions  and  proscriptions  of 
their  clergy — a  body  so  numerous  as  to  require  the  surveillance 
of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  bishops  ?  It  was  not  then,  and 
never  will  be  again,  so  long  as  the  world  shall  last,  difficult  to 
select  individuals  of  immoral  lives  and  scandalous  conduct.  No 
branch  of  the  Universal  Church  ever  has  been  so  pure  ;  and 
whichever  shall  claim  the  exemption,  will  prove,  by  its  assump- 
tion, its  own  unworthiness.  Human  nature,  at  best,  is  imperfect, 
and  always  fallible.  Of  the  chosen  few  who  listened  to  the 
instruction  and  witnessed  the  miracles  of  the  sacred  Head  of  the 
Church,  one  betrayed  his  master,  and  another  denied  him,  and  a 
third  subsequently  doubted  his  identity,  until,  to  the  evidence  of 
§ight,  he  was  called  upon  to  add  that  of  touching  the  body.  It 
is  an  admirable  lesson,  and  teaches  us  humility  in  estimating 
ourselves,  and  charity  in  judging  others.  It  was  necessary  to 
defame  the  Gallican  Church  to  palliate  the  confiscation  of  its 
effects ;  and  to  accuse,  before  they  condemned  its  hierarchy,  in 
order  to  have  the  pretext  of  a  sentence  for  putting  them  to  death, 
or  driving  them  into  exile.  They  succeeded  in  deceiving  them- 
selves, but  they  have  not  duped  others  ;  and  every  candid  person, 
of  every  creed,  in  Europe  and  America,  does  justice  to  this  learn- 
ed, pious,  and  faithful  body  of  men,  who  suffered  so  much  from 
the  daggers,  the  dungeons,  and  the  scaffolds  of  their  heartless 
enemies. 

The  effect  of  this  relapse  into  heathenism  is  still  most  sensibly 
felt  in  France.  The  whole  population  has  to  be  re-converted  ;  a 
task  wholly  beyond  the  power  of  man,  without  the  blessing  of 
God  upon  the  work.  The  gospel  has  no  new  light  for  them ; 
they  had  seen  and  rejected  it,  as  inferior  to  that  of  reason  ;  it  has 
no  new  truths  to  elevate  and  purify  their  minds,  to  console  them 
in  their  adversity,  and  sustain  and  cheer  them  in  their  toil  or 
their  suffering.  They  had  heard  them,  and  disbelieved  them. 
They  had  shut  their  ears,  and  hardened  their  hearts,  for  they 
knew  not  that  "  righteousness  exalteth  a  nation." 

They  have,  however,  condescended  to  tolerate  religion,  and 
have  permitted  it  to  push  its  way  if  it  can.  Romanism  can  not 
long  exist  any  where  without  making  itself  felt.  In  America  wa 
have  seen  how  it  has  done  so  ;  and  the  tendency  it  has,  by  obtain- 
ing the  suffrages  of  the  majority,  to  throw  power  into  the  hands 


374  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

of  a  foreign  potentate.  The  same  will  be  discovered  to  be  the 
case  in  France.  In  that  country,  it  is  true,  the  religious  element 
is  not  by  any  means  so  largely  infused  into  the  character  and 
constitution  of  the  people,  as  in  the  United  States ;  but  it  has 
the  great  advantage  of  being  in  undisturbed  possession  of  the  field, 
and  of  holding  therefore,  an  undivided  sway  over  all  that  is  re- 
ligious in  the  community  ;  whereas,  in  America,  though  numeri- 
cally, perhaps,  superior,  and  its  adherents  more  devoted,  there  are 
numerous  other  bodies,  and  especially  the  Protestant  Episcopal 
Church,  to  hold  it  in  check,  and  arrest  its  progress.  This  danger 
to  the  national  government  of  France  is  greater  under  the  present 
hierarchy  and  clergy,  than  under  the  old  Gallican  Church.  That 
was  a  far  more  patriotic  body ;  it  was  attached  to  the  soil,  and 
its  ministers  were,  both  by  birth  and  in  heart,  Frenchmen. 
Whereas,  the  existing  priesthood,  perceiving  the  frail  tenure  that 
they  have  on  those  in  authority,  that  they  are  in  fact  merely 
tolerated  by  statesmen,  neither  esteemed  nor  respected  for  their  of- 
fice's sake,  see  in  Rome  the  sole  source  of  all  their  power,  dignity, 
and  status  in  society.  Hence  their  affections  are  estranged  from 
the  land  of  their  nativity,  to  which,  moreover,  from  the  law  of 
celibacy,  no  ties  of  family  bind  them,  and  they  are  naturally  led 
to  entertain  Italian  predilections,  and  disseminate  ultra-montane 
doctrines. 

The  influence  they  will  eventually  exercise  on  the  constitution 
can  not  well  be  overrated.  Laws  may  be  invented  to  restrain 
the  clergy  from  interfering  in  secular  matters,  and  to  exclude 
them  from  power,  but  while  Romanism  remains  the  same,  no 
enactments  can  counteract  its  influence.  It  has  the  education 
of  youth,  the  devoted  reliance  of  the  female  heart,  the  ignorance 
of  the  lower  classes,  the  confidence  and  society  of  the  rich,  the 
superstition  of  the  weak,  the  power  of  indulgence  or  penance  for 
sinners,  and  the  keys  of  Heaven  for  all.  It  mixes  itself  up  with 
the  tastes,  the  feelings,  the  enjoyments,  and  consolations  of  life. 
It  receives  the  helpless  infant,  and  christening  it,  adds  it  to  the 
flock,  and,  while  imparting  its  creed,  exacts  and  secures  its  obe- 
dience. It  trains  it  in  its  own  way,  when  manhood  asserts  its 
independence,  and  the  world  exhibits  its  allurements.  It  unites 
him  to  the  object  of  his  affections,  and  makes  her  his  companion 
for  life,  bestowing  on  both  the  benediction  of  the  faithful.  It 
unlocks  the  sanctuary  of  his  heart,  and  is  the  depository  of  the 


THE    ENGLISH    IN   AMERICA.  375 

secrets  of  its  inmost  recesses.  It  advises  him  in  his  worldly 
affairs,  sustains  him  in  his  trials,  and  prepares  and  consoles  him 
in  the  agonies  of  death.  Can  law  grapple  with  a  power  like  this, 
and  say,  "  Thus  far  shalt  thou  go  and  no  farther!"  This  is  a 
power  beyond  a  charter,  and  above  a  constitution,  and  they  who 
wield  it  must  be  courted  and  not  coerced.  It  will  assist  an  ad- 
ministration, but  it  requires  heavy  subsidies  for  its  services.  In 
the  absence  of  religion,  we  have  seen,  a  republic  can  not  exist. 
The  State  then  must  obey  it,  if  it  will  rule.  It  is  the  vast 
majority  of  the  population  that,  under  some  form  or  other,  profess 
Romanism,  that  creates  the  difficulty. 

If  then  the  infidelity  or  religion  of  France,  are  both  opposed  to 
rational  republicanism,  the  want  of  due  preparation  and  congenial 
establishments  for  enabling  the  rising  generation  to  understand 
and  appreciate  self-government,  is  a  very  serious  obstacle  to  its 
success.  So  much  has  elsewhere  been  said  on  this  subject,  that 
I  do  not  think  it  necessary  to  follow  it  into  detail.  America  has 
one  advantage  peculiar  to  herself,  arising  from  her  isolated 
situation.  She  has  no  neighbors  of  sufficient  power  to  cause  her 
a  single  moment's  apprehension,  however  much  they  may  dread 
her  interference.  She  wants  no  standing  army,  a  power  always 
dangerous  to  liberty  under  any  form  of  government,  and  ever  at- 
tended with  an  enormous  expense  to  the  nation.  She  has  almost 
as  little  need  of  a  navy,  as  a  law  of  non-intercourse,  would  inflict 
more  injury  upon  any  country  with  which  she  has  commercial 
relations,  than  twice  the  number  of  men-of-war  she  possesses. 

European  politics,  on  the  contrary,  are  so  various  and  compli- 
cated, and  national  rivalries  and  jealousies  run  so  high,  while 
the  intermeddling  policy  of  every  government  with  the  affairs 
of  others,  and  the  absurd  dread  that  the  balance  of  power  may 
be  destroyed,  render  it  necessary  for  France  to  keep  up  both 
branches  of  the  service,  on  an  efficient  and  extended  scale.  With 
such  a  force,  a  continental  republic  would  hardly  be  secure  from 
itself ;  without  it,  it  would  not  be  safe  from  others.  The  funda- 
mental principles  of  the  charter  of  Louis  Philippe,  anticipated 
the  present  democracy,  by  decreeing  an  equal  partition  of  real  es- 
tate, and  saved  it  from  the  reproach  of  having  ruined  the  country, 
by  subjecting  it  to  the  experiment  after  it  was  utterly  impoverish- 
ed. Its  obje°ct,  doubtless,  was  to  force  upon  the  people  the  adop- 
tion  of  a  democracy,  by  reducing  the  condition  of  all  landed  pro- 


376  THE    ENGLISH    IN  AMERICA. 

prietors  to  one  standing  ;  but  it  was  the  condition  of  a  work- 
house, a  level  of  irredeemable  poverty  and  wretchedness. 

There  was  nothing  new,  either  in  the  theory  or  the  result ;  it 
had  been  tried  and  rejected  before  this  law  was  ever  thought 
of.  The  best  agricultural  writers  of  this  country,  though  they 
differ,  as  it  is  natural  to  suppose  they  should,  as  to  the  best  size 
for  a  farm,  all  agree  in  this,  whatever  may  be  its  extent,  which 
must  ever  depend  on  a  variety  of  accidental  circumstances,  it 
should  not  be  so  large  as  to  induce  the  occupier  to  speculation  in 
the  markets,  whereby  he  is  apt  to  withdraw  his  attention  from 
his  legitimate  business,  and  expose  himself  to  bankruptcy,  nor 
so  small  as  to  require  him  to  cultivate  it  with  his  own  hands, 
which  degrades  him  to  the  station  of  a  mere  laborer,  and  engages 
him  in  a  perpetual  struggle  with  poverty,  which  in  .his  declining 
years  is  sure  to  overpower  him  at  last.  Their  own  countrymen 
in  Canada,  who  crowd  both  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  have 
carried  out  the  partition  of  lands  to  the  extreme  length  to  which 
it  will  go,  and  their  poverty  contrasts  painfully  with  the  plenty 
that  rewards  the  toil  of  the  backwoodsman  who  has  a.  more  ex- 
tended field  for  his  skill  and  his  enterprise. 

The  Acadians  in  Nova  Scotia,  the  descendants  of  the  first  ad- 
venturers from  Havre  and  Rochelle,  have  at  last  starved  out  their 
repugnance  to  lose  sight  of  home,  and  are  compelled  to  fish  and 
engage  in  the  coasting  trade  in  summer,  to  enable  them  to  sub- 
sist on  the  old  paternal  strip  of  land  in  the  winter.  If  the  farmer 
is  a  pauper  as  well  as  the  laborer,  the  operatives  in  cities  and 
the  manufacturers,  there  is  no  lack  of  equality,  nor  are  the  rights 
or  the  property  of  those  in  much  danger,  under  any  form  of  gov- 
ernment, who  have  little  else  to  reward  invasion  beyond  putrid 
fevers  and  contagious  diseases. 

Can  any  one  wonder  there  are  Hed  Republicans  in  France  ? 
men  who,  with  arms  in  their  hands,  demand  bread  or  blood  ; 
who  are  willing  to  work,  but  can  not  find  employment  ;  who 
would  till  the  soil,  but  that  the  only  crop  they  raise  is  disappoint- 
ment ;  who  love  their  nation,  but  the  country  is  too  small  for 
them. 

It  is  not  necessary  to  remark  on  the  unchecked  power  of  a  sin- 
gle Chamber  of  Deputies,  as  now  existing  in  France  ;  because 
we  have  discussed  that  already,  and  besides,  it  can  be  altered  and 
a  second  one  added,  to  correspond  to  a  Senate.  But  the  ancient 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  377 

or  modern  sub-divisions  of  France  present  no  distinct  sovereignties 
like  the  separate  States  of  America,  that  possessed,  together 
with  their  independence,  laws  and  institutions  of  their  own,  to 
which  the  inhabitants  were  attached,  in  an  equal  or  perhaps 
greater  degree,  than  to  those  of  the  Federal  Government.  The 
separate  and  independent  States  legislate  for  themselves,  are  su- 
preme within  their  own  limits,  and  retain  all  their  powers,  with 
the  exception  of  the  few  they  have  delegated  to  Congress.  They 
are  great  barriers  to  the  centralization  that  pervades  in  France", 
making  Paris  the  nation.  They  present  insurmountable  difficul- 
ties, in  the  way  of  encroachment  on  local  authority,  afford  the 
best  machinery  that  can  be  devised  for  training  and  electing  sen- 
ators. The  Chamber  of  Deputies  comes  too  fresh  and  direct 
from  the  people  for  cool  deliberation,  or  the  exercise  of  private 
judgment.  It  is  the  trumpet  of  the  multitude,  and  adds  volume 
and  sound  to  its  voice,  already  too  powerful ;  it  obeys  rather  than 
governs  ;  or  at  least  such  is  the  tendency  of  things.  The  operation 
of  this  cause,  we  have  seen,  has  produced  repudiation  in  some  of 
the  individual  States  of  America. 

The  tone  of  feeling  in  France  having  none  of  the  constitutional 
checks  imposed  upon  it,  as  in  the  United  States,  must  eventually 
deteriorate.  Even  the  great  revolution  did  not  efface  all  honor, 
in  extirpating  all  religion.  The  nation  had  been  too  long  a  mon- 
archy to  lose  its  chivalrous  feeling  so  suddenly,  and  notwithstand- 
ing the  subsequent  changes,  its  military  and  naval  establishment? 
gave  a  character  and  confidence  to  public  faith,  which  it  never 
could  or  can  draw  from  universal  suffrage.  This  direct  appeal 
to  the  people  for  the  election  of  the  whole  Chamber  will  gradually 
bring  the  Assembly  to  think  and  speak  like  the  mob  they  repre- 
sent, and  the  voice  and  feeling  of  both  will  soon  become  identical : 
the  people  will  contaminate  their  legislators,  and  the  legislators 
will  still  further  degrade  the  people.  But  without  going  into  de- 
tails, I  will  refer  my  readers  to  facts,  contenting  myself  with 
merely  stating  that  I  can  see  nothing  in  the  situation,  institu- 
tions, or  condition  of  the  country  to  warrant  us  in  indulging  a  hope 
that  such  a  government  as  exists  in  America,  or  any  that  at  all 
resembles  it,  can  be  introduced  into  France  with  any  rational 
prospect  of  success.  De  Tocqueville,  with  true  Gallican  vanity, 
asserts  that  it  can,  for  he  thinks  what  has  been  effected  in  Amer- 
ica can  be  adopted  and  improved  in  Europe  ;  and  that  whatever 


378  THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA. 

any  other  people  could  do,  his  countrymen  can  also  accomplish. 
With  an  equally  strong  Anglo-Saxon  feeling,  on  my  part,  I  verily 
believe  that  if  the  difficulties  to  which  I  have  alluded,  were  all 
removed,  the  French  could  not  successfully  carry  out  the  experi- 
ment. 

There  is  no  people  in  the  world  who  understand,  or  who  can 
sustain  republican  institutions,  but  the  Americans.  Several  hun- 
dred thousand  needy  adventurers  recently  rushed  with  impetuous 
haste  into  the  gold  region  of  California,  where  no  law,  but  that 
of  nature,  prevailed.  Their  first  step  was  to  choose  delegates, 
frame  a  Constitution,  and  put  it  into  execution  ;  and  they  estab- 
lished a  government  with  as  much  facility,  and  in  as  short  a 
time,  as  the  partners  of  a  Joint  Stock  Bank  could  agree  upon 
their  by-laws.  What  people  on  the  earth  could  do  this,  but  the 
Anglo-Saxons  1  Those  fortune-hunters  were  not  the  most  enlight- 
ened citizens  of  America,  nor  her  choicest  subjects  ;  and  she  was, 
with  some  few  exceptions,  as  well  pleased  with  their  emigration 
as  they  were  themselves.  Yet  they  have  put  to  shame  the  Prus- 
sian statesmen,  the  German  philosophers,  and  the  most  learned 
and  enlightened  politicians  of  the  old  world.  They  were  accus- 
tomed to  the  work,  aware  of  the  extent  of  their  wants,  and  well 
acquainted  with  the  best  method  of  establishing  and  securing 
order.  They  were  practical  politicians  ;  having  first  provided  a 
law  for  the  protection  of  property,  they  set  themselves  in  all  haste 
to  work,  to  acquire  it,  and  the  document  they  had  prepared  was 
no  sooner  duly  sanctioned,  than  they  were  to  be  seen  wading 
with  naked  legs  into  the  river,  and  digging  sand,  and  washing  it 
in  a  cradle  to  separate  the  gold  from  the  dross.  The  nature  and 
position  of  the  country,  and  the  character  and  temperament  of 
the  people  (independent  of  all  other  considerations  to  which  I 
have  alluded),  are  of  themselves  of  such  vast  importance  to  the 
success  of  a  republic,  that  after  giving  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  all 
the  credit  it  deserves,  and  ascribing  to  the  Gallican  nation  all 
the  valuable  qualities  (and  they  are  very  numerous)  to  which 
they  can  in  any  way  lay  claim,  it  may  be  well  doubted  on  the 
one  hand,  whether,  if  France  was  evacuated  and  given  up  to 
the  Americans,  they  could  long  maintain  in  Europe,  either  their 
institutions,  or  any  thing  like  the  amount  of  freedom  they  now 
enjoy  ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  if  the  French  were  put  into  posses- 
sion of  the  territories  belonging  to  the  United  States,  with  all  its 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    AMERICA.  379 

advantages  of  position,  and  all  the  necessary  institutions  construct- 
ed to  their  hands,  whether  the  complicated  republic  would  not 
be  found  so  uncongenial  to  their  habits,  and  so  little  adapted  to 
the  genius  of  the  people,  as  to  fail  of  success  in  a  very  short  time. 
I  offer  no  opinion  as  to  the  durability  of  the  government  of  the 
United  States.  The  Federal  Constitution,  we  have  seen,  is  an 
admirable  production.  Those  of  the  several  States  are  inferior 
to  it,  and  their  tendency  is  to  retrograde.  How  far  this  deteri- 
oration will  hereafter  communicate  itself  to  the  other,  time  alone 
can  show.  Our  hopes  for  its  safety,  however,  are  by  no  means 
unmixed  with  fear.  It  has  many  an  unforeseen  contingency  and 
crisis  to  pass  through,  Before  its  strength  or  durability  can  be 
said  to  have  been  fairly  tested. 

With  the  constitution  of  England,  to  say  the  least  of  it,  we 
are  content.  As  we  can  not  obtain  a  better  one,  we  may  well 
forbear  from  unnecessary  experiment.  The  Reform  Bill,  the 
Emancipation  Act,  and  the  repeal  of  the  Navigation  Laws,  have 
taught  us  to  place  a  proper  reliance  on  the  wisdom  of  our  fore- 
fathers, and  to  entertain  a  great  distrust  of  the  hasty  and  incon- 
siderate legislation  of  our  contemporaries.  "  Fools  rush  in  where 
angels  fear  to  tread."  France  having  voluntarily  plunged  her- 
self into  the  caldron  of  democracy,  after  infinite  suffering,  has 
learned  that  licentiousness  is  not  freedom,  and  emeutes  and  insur- 
rections are  not  republicanism;  that  the  right  to  make  laws  is 
of  little  value,  without  the  disposition  to  respect,  or  the  power  to 
enforce  them ;  and  that  that  which  began  in  confiscation  and 
plunder,  will  inevitably  be  overtaken  at  last  by  the  retributive 
justice  of  an  inscrutable  Providence.  Her  experience  has  also 
taught  her  that  whatever  be  the  form  of  government,  despotic, 
monarchical,  or  republican  (and  that  which  is  best  administered 
is  best),  the  only  sure  and  solid  basis  on  which  it  ever  can  be  built 
is  religion,  which  at  once  makes  us  good  men  and  good  subjects, 
by  teaching  us  our  duty  to  God  and  our  neighbor,  and  renders  our 
institutions,  our  country,  and  ourselves  worthy  of  the  protection  and 
blessing  of  Heaven. 

THE     END. 


crFU 


This  book  is  due 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


& 


